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BY 


Henry  C.  Badger. 

OF   THF. 

While  Valor's  haughty  Champions  wait, 
Till  all  their  scars  are  shown  ; 

Love  walks  unchallenged  through  the  gate 
To  sit  beside  the  throne.— Holmes. 


-t^^r*- 


BENJ.  H.  TYRREL, 
74  Maiden  Laitb,  New  Yore. 


Copyright  Secured,  1895. 


7^0  ^o 


FAITH, 

Count  each  affliction,  whether  light  or  grave, 

God's  Messenger  sent  doivn  to  thee  :  do  thou 

With  courtesy  receive  him  :  rise  and  bow, 
And,  ere  his  shadow  cross  thy  threshold,  crave 
Permission  first  his  heavenly  feet  to  lave  j 

Then  lay  before  him  all  thou  hast  j  allow 

No  cloud  of  passion  to  usurp  thy  brow. 
Or  mar  thy  hospitality, — no  wave 

Of  mortal  tumult  to  obliterate 
The  soul's  marmoreal  calmness  :  grief  should  be 

Like  joy,  majestic,  equable,  sedate, — 
Confirming,  cleansing,  raising,  making  free  ; 

Strong  to  consume  small  troubles, — to  commend 

Great  thoughts,  grave  thoughts,  thoughts  lasting  to  the  end. 

Aubrey  DbVere. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE.  PAGE. 

I.  The  Donation  Party,           ...  9 

II.  On  the  Honeoye,      ....  17 

III.  An  Earthly  Paradise,         .  .28 

IV.  Nature's  Teaching,          ...  37 
V.  The  Christian  Palladium,           .  46 

VI.  Channinq  in  1825,             ...  54 

VII.  Antioch  College,          ....  63 

VIII.  College  Life  in  Border  Lands,     .  84 

IX.  Co-Education, 106 

X.  Confidence,                 .        .        .        .  115 

XI.  Diana  and  Minerva,     ....  131 

XII.  Love  and  Logic,                ...  143 

XIII.  The  Marble  Faun,        ....  156 

XIV.  Hilda's  Return,  171 
XV.  The  Sword  of  Bunker  Hill,  184 

XVI.  Christ  in  the  Hospital,  197 

XVII.  The  Red  Cross  Flag,           ...  208 

XVIII.  The  Golden  Shower.        .                 .  223 

XIX.  The  Coming  Shadow,    ....  233 

XX.  All  at  Sea, 244 

XXI.  The  Ministry  of  Grace,                       .  255 

XXII.  The  Shadow  Falls,  274 

XXIII.  Yet  Faith  is  Our  Life,                .        .  291 

XXIV  Christianity  of  To-Day,                  .  296 


PREFACE. 


In  this  new  world,  Cliristianity  meets  a  new  crisis 
in  the  evolution  of  a  new  civilization.  Freedom  of 
investigation  bears  at  last  the  legitimate  and  whole- 
some fruit  of  what  is  now  becoming  known  as  the 
higher  criticism,  and  its  honest  and  just  conclusions 
have  so  shaken  the  ancient  foundations  of  Faith, 
that  sincere  souls  are  wondering  if  anything  real 
remains. 

The  closing  years  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  will, 
as  certainly  as  the  past  cycles,  reap  its  victories  of 
truth,  and  the  evolution  of  man,  if  not  also  of  God, 
is  now  the  question  of  the  hour. 

Can  we  still  claim,  as  Jesus  did,  the  infinite  value 
of  each  human  soul,  and  so  obtain  eternity  and  im- 
mortality as  the  field  of  its  deathless  development, 
or  is  it  only  **  the  survival  of  the  fittest,"  wherein 
we  are  now  to  dream  of  nearing  some  social  struc- 
ture here  on  earth,  of  such  value  in  itself  that  indi- 
viduals may  drop  out  and  disappear  forever  like 
lilies  of  the  field,  without  disturbing  the  divine  har- 
mony of  beauty  and  use,  resulting  in  happiness  as 
the  object  of  life  ? 

That  is  the  question  of  to-day,  and  the  author 
writes  this  story  of  ample  experience,  accepting  in 
humble  faith  the  answer  tendered  by  God's  grace 
in  the  life  of  Christ,  which  found  its  beginning 
rather  than  its  ending  at  the  Cross. 

Harvard  College  Library, 
August,  1894. 


THE    DONATION    PARTY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  DONATION  PARTY. 

In  November,  1840,  the  early  Indian  summer  was 
tilling  the  Genesee  Valley  with  a  subdued  light, 
and  with  an  air  exquisitely  soft  and  still,  and  a 
similar  atmosphere  of  peace  and  rich  content  per- 
vaded the  spirits  of  a  vigorous  farmer  and  his  wife 
as  they  drove  their  handsome  team  into  the  town 
of  Mendon,  confident  of  a  cordial  welcome  as  their 
beneficent  journey  now  came  to  a  conclusion. 

Lightly  touching  up  the  horses  with  his  whip,  the 
farmer  said  ;  '^  Do  you  think  the  Elder' 11  be  glad 
to  see  us,  Susan?" 

*'  Glad  ?  He  is  always  glad  to  see  us  ;  but  I'm 
ashamed  of  you,  Dave  Randall ;  I  believe  you're 
half  ashamed  of  yourself,  for  only  fetchin'  that 
great  shoat  fifteen  miles  in  this  wagon,  and  you 
won't  dare  show  it  to  the  folks  when  you  get 
there ! " 

** I  won't?  You  see  if  I  don't,  and  if  it  don't 
please  the  elder,  too.  You  remember  he  picked  out 
that  pig  himself  when  it  was  only  a  roaster,  toward 
the  last  week  in  March,  after  the  protracted  meet- 
in',  afore  the  folks  all  started  for  home,  I  said  : 
*  Oh,  Elder  Badger,  one  thing  more,  here's  a  couple 
of  as  nice  pigs  as  ever  were  roasted.     Just  let  Ike 


10  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

tuck  'em  into  a  sack  and  put  'em  under  the  seat  of 
your  buggy.' 

'**No,'  said  the  Elder,  smiling,  *  Eliza  is  with 
me,  but  thank  you  all  the  same,  and  I'll  gladly  ac- 
cept one  of  them  if  you'll  kindly  keep  it  for  me 
till  I  send  for  it." 

'Twas  a  month  or  more  before  I  saw  him  agin, 
when  he  said  : 

*^  Oh  !  Brother  Randall,  I  have  not  forgotten 
that  pig,  but  Thanksgiving  is  coming,  you  know." 
So  here  it  is  now,  weighing  over  two  hundred 
pounds,  and  I  guess  they'll  laugh  when  I  tell  all 
the  folks  how  he  got  the  best  of  me." 

*'  Well,  Dave  Randall,  he  alius  does  get  the  best 
of  ye,  but,  of  course,  he  didn'  t  want  to  be  carryin' 
live  pigs  fifteen  miles  in  his  carriage  with  his  wife. 
He  ain't  that  kind  of  a  man,  but  he  likes  roast  pig 
just  as  well  as  you  do,  and  that's  nothin'  agin  him, 
nuther." 

Aunt  Susan  then  looked  under  the  seat  to  be  sure 
that  certain  gifts  of  her  own  were  all  right,  and  the 
great  crocks  of  choice  butter  and  preserves  were 
patted  approvingly  as  if  she  had  made  amends  for 
all  her  husband's  short-comings.  Her  quince  pre- 
serves and  sweet  pickles  of  the  red  Siberian  crab- 
apples  with  their  stems  on,  had  long  been  famous, 
and  too  much  of  them  was  not  enough,  and  never 
failed  to  make  the  boys  remember  their  hereafter. 

"  Here  we  are,"  said  Dave.     *'  How  fine  the  falls 


THE    DONATION    PARTY.  11 

look  after  the  rain  !    And  just  see  how  the  wagons 
are  a-crowdin'  to  the  Elder's  gate." 

•*  Welcome,  Brother  Randall/'  said  the  Elder, 
coming  down  from  the  porch.  "  And  how  is  Aunt 
Susan  to-day?"  he  asked,  extending  his  hand  to 
help  her  down  from  the  high  spring  seat  of  the 
farm  wagon. 

She  confessed  at  once  that  she  was  very  well, 
"  but  that  she  was  half  ashamed  of  Dave  Randall 
for  what  he  had  been  doin'." 

But  a  hearty  laugh  went  round  as  the  pig  story 
was  told,  and  a  sturdy  farm  hand  shouldered  the 
huge  porker  and  vanished  through  the  outside  door 
of  the  cellar  under  the  house,  which,  on  occasions 
like  this,  always  stood  wide  open. 

Dave  and  Susan  were  welcomed  by  Eliza,  and 
their  faces  were  soon  glowing  and  radiant  with 
gratified  good  will  as  they  joined  the  great  company 
gathering  in  the  stately  old  mansion. 

The  Donation  Party  was  at  that  time  the  one 
great  event  of  the  year  in  the  Genesee  valley.  When 
November  brought  those  wonderful  Indian  summer 
days,  the  wheat  was  all  threshed,  the  hay  was  in 
the  mow,  the  corn  stood  in  the  shock  waiting  for 
the  merry  buskers,  the  orchards  were  full  of  bright 
pyramids  of  apples  and  pears  waiting  for  the  cellar 
or  cider  mill,  turkeys  were  strutting  about  as  though 
defying  both  Thanksgiving  and  Christmas,  though 
roast  turkey  and  spare-ribs  were  the  Autumn  luxu- 
ries, as  roast  veal  and  pig  were  those  of  spring. 


12  BOEDEE  LANDS   OP  FAITH. 

The  old  colonial  Wood-spell  of  New  England, 
which  provided  the  early  parsons  with  their  fire- 
wood for  all  winter,  had  grown  into  this  joyous 
festival,  which  provided  a  large  family  with  almost 
their  entire  subsistence  for  a  year,  and  the  friendly 
visit  of  whole  families  together  was  considered  the 
best  part  of  it.  All  the  men,  women  and  children 
for  miles  around  seemed  to  feel  a  moral  obligation 
to  personally  supercede  Santa-Claus  and  bring  some- 
thing of  use  to  the  minister  or  his  family  on  that 
day;  and  well  those  thrifty  people  knew  how  to 
provide  for  their  beloved  pastor  as  if  he  were  one  of 
their  own  family. 

Money  they  had  little.  Markets  were  few  and 
far  away.  No  railway  had  yet  crossed  the  State  of 
New  York.  Even  Lafayette  as  the  Nation's  guest 
in  1825,  had  to  travel  by  the  Erie  Canal  opened  in 
that  year.  It  was  the  first  outlet  for  their  surplus, 
and  it  carried  but  a  small  part  of  their  crops  as  it 
bore  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  to  the  Hudson  River 
and  the  Sea.  The  over-abundance  flowed  out  in 
charity  wherever  needed,  and  often  into  the  spacious 
garners  of  the  Clergy  of  all  denominations,  with 
much  sectarian  rivalry  among  them  as  to  which 
should  fare  the  best. 

The  great  barn  doors  stood  wide  open,  and  the 
farmers  drove  in  on  the  clean  threshing  floor  to  un- 
load many  bags  of  choice  wheat,  oats  and  corn,  and 
even  a  great  load  of  hay  had  often  to  be  pitched 


THE    DONATION    PARTY.  18 

into  the  wide  hay  mow,  while  many  cords  of  hick- 
ory-wood were  piled  under  the  shed. 

Dave  Randall's  pig  was  soon  joined  in  the  cellar 
by  great  sides  of  beef  and  many  saddles  of  choice 
mutton,  and  chickens  and  hams  and  bacon  cornfed 
and  applefed  and  buckwheat  and  acorn  fed,  and 
barrels  of  cider,  and  each  house- wife  brought  some 
product  of  her  own  domestic  skill,  for  which  she 
wished  the  approval  of  Eliza,  who  was  the  daughter 
of  Deacon  Samuel  Sterling,  one  of  the  great  farmers, 
and  considered  a  great  authority  in  all  the  domestic 
and  culinary  arts. 

From  their  baskets  came  great  hanks  of  yarn,  and 
many  a  web  of  grey  and  blue  homespun,  thick  and 
stout,  for  boys,  and  mittens  and  stockings,  and 
mufflers  of  various  sizes  and  a  fine  calf -skin  and  a 
whole  side  of  sole  leather  from  Ephraim  the  tanner. 

And  what  good  cream  cheese  those  farmer' s  wives 
made  before  cheese  factories  were  invented,  and 
what  links  of  sausages,  and  great  baskets  of  eggs, 
and  loaves  of  bread,  and  cakes  of  many  kinds,  and 
mince  pies,  and  preserves  of  innumerable  fruits, 
and  pickles  and  apple-butter,  and  maple  sugar,  and 
syrup,  and  many  barrels  of  apples,  and  of  all  the 
vegetables,  and  flour  and  buck-wheat,  and  finally  a 
whole  hive  of  honey,  white  and  creamy,  from  Aunt 
Sally  Waite,  the  bees  having  been  destroyed  by 
smoke  according  to  a  wasteful  custom  of  the  time. 

How  the  flap-jacks  laughed  and  danced  on  the 
griddle,  as  they  saw  that  maple-syrup  and  honey 


14  BORDER  LAT^DS   OF  FAITH. 

come  in,  as  if  saying  to  themselves,  **  Now  we  shall 
soon  be  smothered  in  sweetness,  and  certainly  be 
put  where  we  can  do  the  most  ecood." 

Well  might  Eliza  have  been  over- whelmed  by  the 
flood  of  this  bounty  and  the  clatter  of  tongues  and 
the  constant  greetings  and  kindly  inquiries,  but 
she  was  at  home  with  these  people  and  knew  them 
all  well,  her  eldest  brother,  William  Sterling,  hav- 
ing been  the  first  white  child  ever  born  in  the  Gene- 
see valley,  soon  after  her  parents  came  there  from 
Old  Saybrook,  Connecticut,  in  1790. 

The  cooked  provisions  now  brought  were  ample 
for  all  comers,  and  with  a  few  of  the  matrons  to 
help,  she  directed  all  things,  and  the  great  picnic 
table  was  soon  spread  in  the  long  dining-room,  with 
others  on  the  porches  and  the  lawn,  where  hour 
after  hour,  the  feast  went  on  for  the  hundreds  who 
came.  The  younger  men  and  maidens  acted  as 
waiters  with  endless  frolic  and  fun. 

In  the  kitchen  a  huge  wash-boiler  covering  the 
whole  front  of  the  stove,  was  full  of  steaming  de- 
licious coffee,  for  which  ample  stores  of  cream  were 
found,  and  except  to  ask  the  blessing  and  preside 
at  the  first  table,  there  was,  when  the  feast  began, 
no  formality  and  no  other  ceremony  but  cheerful 
greetings  as  the  people  came  and  went  at  will  when 
all  had  been  amply  served.  And  many  were  the 
friendly  gibes  at  the  absent. 

Guests  from  Spring- Water  were  deeply  grieved 
to  have  to  report  that  Deacon  Hammond  had  again 


THE    DONATION    PARTY.  16 

fallen  from  grace,  by  actually  declaring  baptism 
not  to  be  essential  to  salvation. 

**  But  why  didn't  you  labor  with  him,  brethren?" 
said  the  Elder. 

**0h!  we  did.  We  lit  upon  him  like  a  hawk 
upon  a  hen,  and  you  ought  to  have  seen  the 
feathers  fly.  We  labored  with  him  and  we  prayed 
with  him,  but  he  wouldn't  give  in,  and  we  fear 
that  the  revival  last  Spring  didn't  operate  much  on 
him." 

Then  one  of  the  mothers  in  Israel  arose  to  go, 
and  the  Elder  kindly  said:  **I  fear  you  are  not 
very  well,  Sister  Marvin  ;  you're  looking  a  little 
thin  lately." 

'*  Well,  Elder  Badger,"  she  answered,  *'  I  try  to  be 
thankful  for  all  the  mercies  of  the  Lord,  but,"  she 
added,  *'if  you  had  borne  and  nursed  thirteen 
children,  you'd  look  thin  too."  Then  the  laugh 
went  round  at  the  Elder's  portly  person,  and  as 
twilight  fell,  the  great  assembly  melted  away  in 
the  moonlight  to  their  happy  homes. 

The  great  house  was  now  strangely  still.  The 
younger  children  were  all  away  at  Grandma's, 
where  they  had  been  sent  to  be  out  of  the  way,  and 
the  elder  ones  were  now  doing  up  the  chores  and 
counting  up  the  treasures  of  the  day.  The  Elder 
and  Eliza  were  alone  on  the  porch,  where  they  had 
bidden  the  last  guests  good-bye,  and  thinking  of 
their  seven  happy  children,  felt  that  they  had 
everything  to  be  thankful  for.    His  heart  was  at 


16  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

rest.  His  faith  was  tranquil  and  calm.  The  sun 
of  his  life  had  risen  to  its  meridian.  The  future 
looked  to  him  wonderfully  bright.  His  perfect 
health — Eliza's  happiness— his  large  experience — 
his  mastery  of  men — his  three  large  parishes,  and 
his  now  perfect  control  of  all  the  factors  of  his 
problem  gave  him  a  sense  of  security  and  com- 
posure such  as  few  men  ever  feel. 

He  was  too  strong  and  too  proud  a  man  to  feel 
any  vanity.  He  was  too  large  a  man  not  to  be 
humble,  or  not  to  walk  calmly  and  trustfully  sup- 
ported by  a  deep  lying  faith,  while  feeling  toward 
all  a  good  will,  which,  like  perfect  love,  casteth  out 
fear. 


ON  THE  HONEOYE.  17 


CHAPTER  II. 

ON  THE  HONEOYE. 

The  scene  of  this  story  lies  on  the  Genesee 
River,  some  fifteen  miles  south  of  Rochester, 
where  Monroe,  Ontario  and  Livingston,  the  three 
great  farming  counties  of  New  York,  corner  to- 
gether on  the  line  of  the  Honeoye  Creek,  at  its 
famous  falls  near  where  it  enters  the  Genesee. 

Where  the  great  and  beautiful  City  of  Roches- 
ter, now  glorifies  that  region,  there  was  before 
1820,  only  a  malarious  swamp,  malodorous  and 
uninviting,  inhabited  mainly  by  rattlesnakes  and 
Indians,  known  as  the  Genesee  Falls,  till  Col. 
Rochester,  about  that  date  emigrated  from  Mary- 
land to  its  headwaters,  and  came  sailing  down  the 
noble  stream  on  a  raft  with  his  family,  and  many 
flat  boats  of  his  followers,  to  redeem  the  place  by 
draining  the  swamp,  and  giving  it  a  noble  name. 
And  he  had  to  stop  five  years  at  Bloomfield  to 
await  the  effect  of  that  drainage,  although  the 
surrounding  highlands  to  the  eastward  and  south- 
erly had  been  much  earlier  settled,  and  the  most 
beautiful  high-rolling  and  rich  farming  lands  of 
Canandagua,  Bloomfield,  Mendon,  Geneseo,  Livo- 
nia and  Avon  had  been  weU  peopled  from  about 


18  BORDEE  LANDS  OF   FAITH. 

1790,  when  the  State  first  extinguished  the  Indian 
titles  and  opened  those  lands  for  settlement. 

Emigration  thereafter  poured  in  from  New 
England  and  the  South  in  about  equal  streams, 
and  mostly  by  an  educated  and  good  class  of  citi- 
zens. Those  who  have  read  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe's  famous  story,  *^01d  Town  Folks,"  will 
recall  not  only  Sam  Lawson  and  Hepsy,  but  also 
the  central  old  homestead  of  Deacon  Joseph 
Badger  and  his  noble  wife  as  the  two  leading 
types  of  New  England  character. 

They  may  also  recall  the  son  William,  for  whom 
so  many  pious  prayers  and  sacrifices  were  made  to 
send  him  through  Harvard  College,  and  that  he 
thereafter  emigrated  from  Old  town,  now  Newbury- 
port,  and  became  one  of  the  early  governors  of 
New  Hampshire,  where  his  grand-father  Joseph, 
had  also  been  long  previous  in  the  ''good  old 
colony  days  "  one  of  the  pioneers  at  Gilmanton, 
in  the  White  Mountains,  from  whence  he  had  led 
a  brigade  of  New  Hampshire  troops,  under  John 
Stark,  to  Bennington  and  Saratoga  in  1777,  to 
help  capture  Burgoyne  and  the  Hessians. 

Those  early  fighting  qualities  developed  in 
actual  war  with  the  British  and  Indians,  and 
thence  returning  to  such  homes  as  Mrs.  Stowe 
describes  in  Oldtown  in  1792,  could  not  fail  to 
develop  traits  of  character  likely  to  be  well  marked 
and  visible  through  many  generations. 

"How  far  that  little  candle  threw  its  beams" 


ON  THE  HONEOYE.  19 

will  appear  more  clearly,  when  we  consider  that 
another  Joseph  Badger  of  that  same  stock,  grad- 
uated at  Yale  College  about  the  same  time  and 
entered  the  Congregational  Ministry  at  Blandford, 
Massachusetts,  from  whence  the  great  missionary 
societies,  then  as  now,  so  powerful,  soon  sent  him 
out  as  their  best  representative  to  the  western 
reserve  in  Ohio  ;  and  to  their  great  mission  to  the 
Wyandot  Indians  in  Michigan,  where  he  spent  a 
long  and  devoted  life  in  that  service  till  ninety 
years  of  age. 

But  his  line  only  crosses  this  story  at  the  first 
rude  bridge  made  of  boats  over  the  old  Indian 
trail  at  the  Genesee  Falls  in  1800,  whence  his  path 
extended  to  Buffalo  Creek,  and  Erie,  and  the  first 
wagon  which  ever  rolled  west  of  Buffalo  was 
drawn  by  the  four  stout  Presbyterian  horses  of 
that  first  missionary.  And  fifteen  years  later 
came  his  cousin  of  the  same  name  of  the  Harvard 
College  line,  licensed  to  preach,  but  with  no  soci- 
eties to  back  him,  and  no  heritage  but  brains  and 
the  Oldtown  character,  with  his  bible,  his  inde- 
pendent, free-thinking  faith,  a  stout  heart,  and  a 
good  horse. 

He  rode  the  horse  from  Gilmanton,  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  the  early  Spring  of  1816,  with  only  saddle 
baggage,  going  out  to  seek  his  fortune  like  a  knight 
of  ancient  chivalry,  and,  going  westward  with  only 
manly  courtesy,  and  courage  and  faith,  was  wel- 
comed everywhere  with  the  greatest  hospitality. 


20  BOEDEE  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

He  entered  the  wonderful  lake  region  of  New 
York,  preaching  liere  and  there  and  everywhere  as 
he  went,  in  barns  and  school-houses  and  groves, 
allowing  the  endless  beauty  of  the  scenery  to  lead 
him  on  from  one  lake  to  another,  past  Onondaga, 
Cayuga,  Seneca,  Canandagua,  Conesus  to  the  little 
Honeoye  and  down  its  outlet  to  the  rude  old  bridge 
below  the  falls  in  Mendon,  where  he  stood  in  May 
viewing  a  scene  of  surpassing  loveliness,  till  seeing 
a  group  of  idlers  at  the  tavern  near  the  bridge,  he 
said  to  them  :  **  Gentlemen,  will  you  kindly  tell  me 
who  is  the  worst  man  in  this  region,  the  most  un- 
godly person?" 

Surprised  at  such  an  address,  they  laughed  and 
one  said  :  '^  Well,  there's  a  lot  of  us  here  that's 
pretty  bad,  here's  Li  Jennings  and  Bill  Sykes,  most 
bad  enough  for  anything,  but  there's  old  Zeb 
Townsend  a  mile  west  of  here  ;  he's  an  old  infidel 
who  don't  care  for  God,  Man  or  the  Devil,  is  that 
the  kind  you  want  ? " 

**  Thank  you,  gentlemen,"  he  said,  '*  I  have 
business  with  that  man,"  and  rode  on  to  find  old 
Zeb  standing  at  his  gate,  who  eyed  him  suspiciously 
as  he  approached.  He  announced  himself  as  an 
Evangelist  from  New  Hampshire,  desiring  enter- 
tainment over  Sunday,  and  an  opportunity  to 
preach  the  Gospel. 

"  The  what  ? "  said  old  Zeb  ;  '*  what  do  you  mean 
by  them  big  words  'i    Be  ye  a  Presbyterian  1 " 

**  No,  sir,"  he  replied. 


ON  THE  HONEOTE.  21 

"A  Baptist r' 

**  No,  sir  !  " 

"Not  one  o'  them  'ere  new  fangled  Methodists 
or  'Piscopals?" 

•*  No,  sir  !  " 

"  Well,  what  be  ye  then  ? '' 

**  I  am  trying  Sir,"  he  said,  "  to  be  a  Christian  ?  " 

"  Well,  well,"  said  old  Zeb,  '4f  I  only  believed 
you  could  do  it,  I  have  long  wanted  to  see  one  o ' 
them — Had  hopes  o'  raisin'  some  on  'em  out  here, 
but  there's  so  many  of  them  other  things  I  spoke  of 
round  here,  that  there  don' t  seem  to  be  no  room 
for  Christians,  but  come  in  !  come  in !  young  man, 
if  you  can  help  whale  them  Orthodox  I  reckon 
you're  just  the  kind  of  man  I  have  long  been  wan- 
tin'  to  see." 

"Why,  I'm  the  best  Christian  in  these  parts, 
without  professin'  to  be  one  at  all,  and  yet  them 
Orthodox  would  burn  me  at  the  stake  to-day  if 
they  could,  and  they  say  they  will  some  time,  if  I 
don't  stop  swearin'  at  'em  !  But  damn  'em, 
I've  no  use  for  sich  critters,  and  I  don't  believe  the 
Almighty  has  nuther;  though  for  centuries  they 
'pear  to  have  had  the  upper  hand  of  him  ;  but  he 
don't  let  'em  do  sich  things  any  more,  at  least  not 
in  these  parts." 

"Why  they  just  go  round  blattin'  about  their 
own  total  depravity  and  actually  accusin'  decent 
people  of  havin'  it  I  But  for  me  and  Sam  Sterlin, 
my  neighbor  over  yonder,  there  would' nt  be  any 


22  BOEDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

sensible  religion  in  this  region.  He's  an  old  Scotch 
Presbyterian,  from  Connecticut,  and  him  and  me's 
the  fust  settlers  here,  you  know,  and  we  have 
had  an  awful  time  with  them  pesky  varmints,  but 
between  his  prayin'  and  my  swearin'  we  kinder 
pull  together  and  keep  the  traces  straight,  and 
hold  the  balance  of  things  round  here.  We  have 
to  whale  them  Orthodox,  in  order  to  allow  the 
divine  purposes  to  become  manifest." 

As  they  entered  the  house  and  greeted  the  fam- 
ily, there  sat  with  them  two  of  the  handsome  dark- 
eyed  daughters  of  Samuel  Sterling  on  a  visit,  and 
the  next  bright  thing  that  attracted  attention  was 
'*The  Sword  of  Bunker  Hill,"  hanging  on  the 
antlers  over  the  mantle,  with  fragments  of  the  red 
coat  and  epaulettes  of  a  British  officer,  and  other 
trophies  from  the  battle  of  Saratoga.  Old  Zeb 
had  also  been  an  officer  under  Stark  and  had 
come  from  New  Hampshire  more  than  twenty  years 
before. 

He  well  knew  the  famous  old  brigade  of  New 
Hampshire  men,  which  had  been  selected  after  the 
battle,  to  escort  Burgoyne  and  the  eight  thousand 
British  red  coats  and  Hessians  there  captured,  in 
their  long  and  tedious  march  across  the  country  to 
Boston,  where  they  were  long  imprisoned  in  bar- 
racks on  what  is  now  the  foot-ball  ground  of  Har- 
vard College,  till  the  port  of  Boston  could  be 
opened  again  to  ship  them  off  to  England  as  ex- 


ON  THE  HONEOYE.  28 

changed  prisoners  under  parole,  not  to  fight 
again. 

He  also  well  knew  General  Joseph  Badger,  who 
succeeded  Whipple  as  the  commander  of  that 
brigade  after  it  reached  Cambridge,  and  who  as 
Colonel  of  the  10th  New  Hampshire  Regiment, 
had  distinguished  himself  in  the  battle,  and  left 
the  muster-roll  of  his  regiment  containing  all  their 
names  at  that  time  in  the  library  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, where  it  still  remains  among  the  collections 
of  revolutionary  manuscripts  made  by  President 
Jared  Sparks,  when  he  wrote  the  life  of  Washing- 
ton. 

These  facts  established  at  once  a  high  degree  of 
Masonry  between  them,  and  in  one  hour  old  Zeb 
and  the  preacher  were  firm  friends  for  life.  And 
as  Sam  Sterling  had  also  been  a  revolutionary 
officer,  a  captain  in  the  Connecticut  line  from  old 
Saybrook,  he  was  sent  for  and  came  over  in  the 
evening  with  his  wife  and  two  other  daughters, 
and  then  and  there  with  no  other  preordinations 
or  mystery  the  divine  purposes  seemed  beginning 
to  be  manifest. 

From  that  meeting  arose  the  destiny  of  two  lives, 
which  swiftly  culminated  into  the  events  of  this 
story. 

A  sermon  in  that  region  was  then  an  unusual  oc- 
currence—  :  There  were  no  churches  there  as  yet, 
and  scarcely  a  school-house  ;  and  the  rumor  of  this 
young  preacher's  arrival  spread  like  wild-fire,  and 


24  BOEDEK  LANDS   OF   FAITH. 

when  services  were  announced  for  the  following 
Sunday  in  Samuel  Sterling's  new  barn,  it  called 
the  whole  community  together,  and  when  it  came 
the  Sterling  family  had  organized  a  choir,  and 
hunted  up  all  the  old  hymn-books,  and  within  a 
month  were  ready  to  organize  and  build  a  church 
to  be  called  simply  ''  The  Christian  Church  of 
West  Mendon." 

That  church  was  built  within  a  year,  of  cobble- 
stones brought  in  by  many  farmers  from  their 
fields,  and  old  Zebusedto  say  :  *'  Well,  well,  if  1 
wa'n't  a  Universaler  and  wouldn't  have  to  stop 
swearin'  I'd  almost  be  persuaded  to  join  it 
myself." 

Glad  indeed  were  those  exiles  in  the  wilderness 
to  hear  once  more  the  good  sound  of  the  Gospel, 
wherever  some  wanderer  could  gather  a  group  of 
listeners  in  some  new  barn,  or  quiet  grove,  or  or- 
chard, and  there  were  few  young  preachers  like 
this  stranger.  His  outdoor  life  and  buoyant  youth 
in  robust  health,  gave  him  a  delicacy  of  instinct 
and  a  manliness  of  direct  address  such  as  few  men 
ever  possess.  His  commanding  stature  of  six  feet, 
his  powerful  but  soft  voice,  his  clustering  chestnut- 
brown  hair,  his  clear  gray  eyes,  warming  to  brown 
as  he  spoke,  and  the  ardent  faith  that  spoke 
through  him,  united  to  make  a  jjreacher  such  as 
Eliza  Sterling  had  never  dreamed  of  seeing. 

When  her  big  brown  eyes  of  eighteen  first  rested 
on  him,  just  five  years  her  senior,  the  high  color  of 


ON  THE  HONEOYE.  25 

her  bright  cheeks  grew  brighter,  and  the  Welsh 
blood  of  her  good  mother  shone  through  the  calm 
and  proud  look  of  the  Caledonian  beauty,  and 
when  she  saw  him  rise  to  speak  in  that  barn,  and 
heard  his  winning  voice  join  with  her  pure  soprano 
in  the  music,  it  was  a  case  of  mutual  conquest  at 
first  sight. 

His  text  was  Phil.  2,  5,  **  Let  this  mind  be  in  yon, 
which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus." 

That  was  his  whole  creed,  and  it  was  so  winning 
that  his  church  never  adopted  any  other,  and 
when  that  new  church  was  built  and  dedicated,  its 
first  service  was  to  make  Eliza  Sterling  the  honored 
wife  of  its  minister  with  the  blessing  of  her  brother 
George,  who  had  already  been  converted  and  had 
entered  upon  its  service  as  his  assistant ;  while  her 
first  delightful  duty  as  a  wife  was  to  accompany 
her  husband  back  to  New  England  over  tlie  long 
trail  he  had  traveled,  and  to  find  in  nearly  every 
place  he  had  stopped,  and  in  many  other  places  a 
similar  church  already  organized  and  active  and 
zealous  in  the  great  revolt  against  New  England 
Orthodoxy,  with  which  the  nineteenth  century 
began. 

Even  Boston  had  founded  such  a  church  in  1814 
to  be  strangely  called  the  First  Christian  Church 
of  Boston,  and  there  they  tarried  two  years  in  its 
Ministry,  and  this  young  preacher  there  often 
proved  his  faith  by  baptizing  by  immersion  in  mid- 
winter in  the  open  sea.     His  diary  then  kept  says  : 


26  BORDEE  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

**  March  23,  was  a  day  of  great  interest  to  the 
**  Christian  Church  of  Boston.  Thousands  assem- 
'*  bled  at  the  Seaside  on  the  south  beach,  and  I 
**  stood  in  the  water  one  hour  to  baptize  twenty- 
**  four  happy  converts.  I  preached  three  sermons 
*'  this  day,  and  through  the  whole  of  it  was  scarcely 
"  sensible  of  fatigue.  God's  strength  has  been 
"  sufficient,  and  in  him  I  put  my  trust." 

It  also  records  in  these  words  his  conversion  in 
1811,  at  19  years  of  age,  when  the  righteousness  of 
sectarianism  was  still  undisputed. 

"This  memorable  year  will  never  be  forgotten 
"  on  account  of  the  victorious  spread  of  the  Gospel 
"  in  America.  Generations  yet  unborn  will  trace 
**  the  pages  of  Ecclesiastical  history  with  anxiety 
''  and  delight  to  learn  what  transpired  among  their 
"  ancestors  during  this  year." 

''I  thought  it  strange  that  the  Saints  cannot  all 
**  be  one.  That  the  affectionate  names  of  Brethren, 
*' Disciples,  Christians,  Friends  :— golden  names, 
''  that  I  found  scattered  all  through  the  New 
**  Testament,  were  not  sufficient  without  the  sec- 
"  tarian  names  under  which  the  denominations 
'*  were  marshalled." 

"  I  knew  of  none  at  that  time  who  adopted  the 
**  name  Christian  as  their  only  designation ;  but 
"  young  and  ignorant  as  I  then  was,  I  thought  I 
"  beheld  something  coming,  more  glorious  than 
"  anything  at  which  myself  or  others  had  yet 
"  arrived." 


ON  THE  HONEOYE.  87 

That  was  the  spirit  of  the  new  movement  which 
seems  to  have  arisen  spontaneously  in  many  places 
at  about  the  same  time.  It  ignored  the  old  Jewish 
Deism,  and  the  terrible  divine  decrees  which  nearly 
wrecked  Christianity  in  New  England,  which  had 
contributed  largely  to  the  French  Revolution,  and 
came  near  leading  the  American  Revolution  into 
Anarchy,  and  which  were  not  considered  revoked 
for  fifty  years  later,  till  Mrs.  Stowe  finally  wrote 
their  epitaph  in  her  wonderful  chapter  of  **01d 
Town  Folks''  called  *'My  grandmother's  blue- 
book." 

To  see  that  chapter  now  adopted,  in  part,  into 
the  Public  School  readers  of  New  England,  is  to 
realize  that  Christianity  has  passed  far  beyond 
those  Border  Lands. 

So  now  passes  our  story. 

Home  is  where  the  heart  is,  and  the  young  couple 
could  not  resist  the  heart  pull  which  compelled 
their  return  to  that  earthly  paradise  on  the 
Honeoye,  where  the  stately  Mansion  was  now  to  be 
built,  just  above  the  Falls,  where  the  great  happi- 
ness of  their  lives  thereafter  culminated. 


BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 


CHAPTER  III. 

AN  EARTHLY   PARADI8E. 

That  simple  creed  of  the  Christian  Church  of 
Mendon  proved  to  be  invulnerable. 

No  scoffer  or  sceptic  could  assail  it.  No  atheist 
even  could  object,  as  God  or  no  God,  the  mind  that 
was  in  Jesus  seemed  desirable. 

It  spread  like  the  sunlight,  and  by  the  force  of 
natural  selection,  and  by  a  custom  of  the  Bap- 
tists the  young  preacher  was  called  Elder  before  he 
was  thirty  years  of  age,  and  then  became  a  sort  of 
presiding  Elder  or  Bishop,  and  was  called  to  pro- 
claim his  doctrine  and  defend  it  everywhere. 

More  than  two  hundred  of  its  churches  were 
already  behind  him  in  the  East,  and  he  now  for 
several  years  made  long  and  tedious  journeys  to 
the  West,  a  volunteer  missionary  appointed  by 
God  only,  as  he  said,  through  Ohio,  Kentucky 
and  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  to  carry  that  gos- 
pel to  the  borders  of  civilization  in  those  regions; 
and  wherever  he  went,  "  the  common  people  heard 
him  gladly,"  while  Eliza  and  the  growing  children 
kept  the  hearthstone  bright  on  the  Honeoye. 

This  earth  has  known  no  happier  life  than  blos- 
somed on  the  Genesee  in  those  early  days.  Sixty 
bushels  of  wheat  to   the  acre  was  the  common 


AN  EARTHLY   PARADISE.  29 

rule,  and  the  Flour  City  of  Rochester  soon  became 
famous  ;  but  when  its  grand  flora  was  developed  it 
became  also  the  Flower  City,  spelled  with  a  w. 
So  prolific  was  nature,  that  the  Indians  had  lived 
there  for  centuries  on  the  spontaneous  growths  of 
nature,  the  maize  and  the  berries,  the  fruits  and 
the  nuts,  the  game  and  the  fish,  and  the  great 
romance  and  tragedy  of  their  recent  extermination 
had  left  a  sad  interest  in  the  region,  involving  the 
deepest  mysteries  of  Nature  and  of  Providence  in 
the  evolution  of  a  higher  civilization. 

The  long  house  of  the  Senecas  had  ended  here, 
and  their  last  great  battle  for  existence,  after  being 
driven  out  of  New  England  and  the  Mohawk  Val- 
ley, was  fought  within  a  mile  of  these  falls,  where 
their  great  burial  mounds  on  the  old  Sterling  home- 
stead yet  remained  to  tell  the  tale.  They  clung  to 
their  waterfalls  believing  the  Great  Spirit  was  in 
them,  and  fell  back  from  here  in  despair  to  the 
Genesee  Falls,  and  thence  to  the  great  Niagara, 
where  the  Government  at  last  stayed  its  vengeance 
for  a  time,  and  the  remnants  of  Red  Jacket  and  his 
heroic  race  remain  there  to  this  day. 

The  famous  Six  Nations,  the  most  powerful  race 
of  savages  ever  known,  had,  from  their  earlier 
associations  and  alliances  with  the  French  and 
Jesuits  in  Canada,  made  the  sad  mistake  of  mostly 
siding  with  the  English  during  the  Revolution  ; 
with  the  result  that  in  August,  1779,  their  lands 
were  considered  forfeited  and  in  return  for  their 


30  BOEDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

terrible  massacre  of  the  settlers  at  Wyoming  in 
1878,  General  Washington  sent  here  an  army  under 
John  Sullivan  sufficient  to  exterminate  them,  and 
he  nearly  accomplished  that  object,  by  burning  over 
forty  of  their  villages,  and  killing  thousands  of 
them. 

Then  in  1789  came  the  Hartford  Convention, 
appointed  to  settle  the  easterly  boundary  of  New 
York  State,  as  New  England  claimed  everything 
east  of  the  Hudson  River. 

That  claim  was  defeated  by  allowing  Massachu- 
setts and  Connecticut  the  enormous  price  of  six 
millions  of  acres  of  these  Indian  lands,  covering 
both  sides  of  the  Genesee  River,  which  those  lucky 
states  soon  after  sold  to  Oliver  Phelps  and  Na- 
thaniel Gorham  for  about  two  millions  of  dollars. 

Those  gentlemen  at  once  settled  upon  the  prop- 
erty at  Canandagua  and  Batavia  and  opened  land 
offices  there  and  at  Geneseo,  which  secured  the 
superior  class  of  settlers  which  thereafter  entered 
this  region. 

But  now  in  1840  the  laughing  white  children 
were  playing  over  those  Indian  graves,  and  digging 
out  their  hidden  treasures  as  curiosities,  and  Eliza's 
two  eldest  boys,  Bill  and  Clay,  were  foremost  in 
finding  flints  and  arrow-heads  on  those  famous  old 
battle  fields. 

Enormous  mills  and  factories  had  now  been  built 
below  the  falls,  and  around  the  old  tavern  at  the 
bridge  had  spread  a  large  village   with   several 


AN  EARTHLY  PARADISE.  31 

schools  and  rival  churches,  and  the  usual  sectarian 
war  was  now  rending  the  body  and  garments  of 
Jesus  anew. 

From  the  one-parson  towns  in  New  England, 
well  supported  and  protected  by  the  state,  to  this 
array  of  five  or  six  starving  little  churches  with 
which  most  country  villages  are  now  afflicted,  seems 
a  desecration  indeed,  which  has  but  few  if  any 
compensating  advantages.  But  it  tends  at  least  in 
some  degree  to  educate  the  people,  to  develop  good 
music,  and  keep  men  alive  to  spiritual  interests, 
and  alert  to  anything  which  may  be  open  to  mutual 
criticism,  or  likely  to  make  sacred  things  ridicu- 
lous. 

This  was  vividly  illustrated  at  the  first  winter 
baptism  service  of  the  new  Methodist  Church  which 
was  conducted  in  the  Honeoye,  at  the  usual  place, 
directly  in  front  of  the  new  residence  of  the  Chris- 
tian minister  which  overlooked  the  scene. 

Many  pious  people  had  remarked  that  elder 
Badger  never  took  cold  in  any  baptismal  service, 
even  in  winter,  citing  his  Boston  and  other  ex- 
periences, and  attributing  to  him  therefor  great 
spiritual  exaltation,  which  protected  him  ;  at  which 
Eliza  used  to  smile  quietly  as  she  well  knew  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  getting  a  false  credit  for  what 
was  really  due  to  a  pair  of  rubber  breeches  I 

On  account  of  a  severe  cold  taken  at  that  Boston 
service,  he  had  thereafter  used  a  waterproof  suit  of 
underclothing,   coming  up  to  his  arms,  and  this 


32  BORDER   LANDS   OF   FAITH. 

secret  finally  getting  out,  the  young  Methodist 
parson  had  come  to  borrow  that  suit.  Eliza  loaned 
it  to  him  in  her  husband's  absence,  and  sat  on  her 
balcony  with  the  children  to  observe  the  perform- 
ance, well  knowing  it  was  several  sizes  too  large  for 
him. 

As  she  expected,  he  could  get  nothing  on  over 
it,  so  he  wore  it  outside  of  his  ordinary  clothing, 
and  came  down  to  the  water  looking  very  baggy,  as 
if  prepared  for  a  sackrace.  He  was  very  nervous, 
as  it  was  his  first  out-door  service,  and  the  first  can- 
didate happened  to  be  an  old  maiden  sister  of 
Eliza  who  had  got  lonesome,  as  she  said,  and  had 
gone  over  to  the  Methodist  church  for  more  social- 
ity. She  was  also  very  nervous,  knowing  she  was 
considered  a  prize  in  that  new  church,  and  that  all 
eyes  were  upon  her  for  that  reason. 

As  she  stepped  out  into  the  current  on  his  arm 
and  turned  sideways  in  front  of  the  minister,  she 
did  not  hear  the  usual  caution  of  the  elder  to  stand 
firm  so  as  to  be  immersed  quickly  and  brought  up 
gracefully,  nor  did  she  wait  for  the  conclusion  of 
the  formula,  but  at  its  first  words,  "  I  baptize  thee," 
down  she  went  in  a  heap  doubled  in  the  middle, 
which  so  surprised  the  minister  that  she  slipped  out 
of  his  arms  and  the  further  words  were  lost,  as  she 
was  swept  away  in  the  heavy  current.  A  scream 
of  horror  arose  as  he  sprang  bravely  after  her,  but 
the  baggy  breeches  encumbered  him,   and   in   a 


AN  EABTHLY  PARADISE.  33 

moment  they  were  both  down  and  drifting  away, 
struggling  together  in  the  water  for  dear  life. 

The  deacons  rnshed  in  and  grasped  his  coat  col- 
lar and  dragged  him  ashore,  towing  Fanny  Sterling 
behind  him,  desperately  clinging  to  the  baggy  seat 
of  those  trousers. 

There  was  no  more  baptism  by  immersion  by  that 
minister,  and  the  vicarious  salvation  by  those 
trousers  was  considered  miraculous. 

And  that  same  Aunt  Fanny  of  blessed  memory 
afterwards  taught  the  village  school  for  several 
seasons,  and  for  some  prank  she  once  shut  up  Bill 
and  Clay  in  the  dark  closet,  which  to  her  mind  was 
the  most  terrible  of  punishments. 

But  somehow  it  did  not  affect  their  youthful 
minds  in  that  way,  as  they  knew  that  the  teacher 
and  all  the  big  girls  kept  their  dinner  baskets  in 
that  closet,  which  contained  nice  cakes,  mince- 
pies,  and  tarts  and  fruit ;  and  somehow  they  man- 
aged to  empty  the  teacher's  first,  and  then  five  or 
six  others  in  succession  ;  and  no  one  ever  saw 
where  they  put  all  those  things,  for  at  recess  they 
were  found  there,  fast  asleep,  as  innocent  as  the 
babes  in  the  wood. 

And  when  they  were  punished  all  the  next  day 
by  being  made  to  sit  over  among  those  big  girls, 
with  fool's  caps  on  their  heads,  like  girl's  night- 
caps, they  mildly  urged  the  old  plea  of  the  good 
deacon  Badger  at  Oldtown,  that  no  one  had  seen 
'em  do  it. 


34  BOEDER  LANDS   OF   FAITH. 

They  also  asked  how  long  capital  punishment 
was  to  be  continued  for  such  small  boys,  and  they 
knew  they  could  utterly  demoralize  that  good, 
pious  teacher  at  any  time,  by  bringing  the  boys 
under  her  window  at  recess,  and  starting  the  good 
old  baptismal  hymn : 

Safe  in  the  Lifeboat  Sailor,  pull  for  the  Shore  ! 

They  were  already  famous  declaimers  and  used 
to  go  round  speaking  pieces  in  the  rival  schools, 
and  Bill  was  called  *'  Old  Put"  from  his  declama- 
tion of  the  story  of  General  Putnam  and  the  wolf. 
As  spellers,  they  often  kept  the  spelling  school  till 
midnight,  trying  in  vain  to  get  them  down  by  their 
missing  a  word ;  and  once  when  they  paired  off 
against  each  other,  and  chose  sides,  the  game  had 
to  be  declared  a  draw  at  midnight,  as  neither  of 
them  was  yet  down. 

Clay  was  known  among  the  boys  as  the  **  Little 
Cuss"  of  not  much  account,  and  was  soon  dubbed 
the  "Deacon,"  for  his  early  piety,  but  Bill  was 
already  a  fighter  with  a  slogan  and  a  following, 
like  a  Highland  chieftain,  and  all  the  boys  in  the 
village  would  rally  at  his  peculiar  whistle  through 
his  fingers  for  any  fight  or  foray. 

Years  afterwards  he  used  that  same  whistle  as  a 
captain  in  the  great  war  of  the  Rebellion,  to  rally 
his  men  in  the  great  battle  of  Chancellors ville, 
where  they  saw  Stonewall  Jackson  shot  within  two 
hundred  yards  of  them,   in   May,   1863,  and  yet 


AN   EARTHLY    PARADISE.  36 

two  months  later  had  still  to  stand  firmly  before 
Pickett's  charge  at  Gettysburg. 

All  the  boys  in  the  village  were  soon  ranged  in 
two  clans,  those  who  fought  on  his  side  and  those 
from  the  east  side  who  fought  against  him,  and 
woe  to  the  lad  from  over  the  creek  who  was  caught 
without  his  re-enforcements  on  the  wrong  side  of 
that  sacred  stream. 

The  whistle  promptly  rallied  a  posse  in  pursuit, 
and  as  the  flying  Tam  O'Shanter  made  for  the 
bridge,  he  was  safe  beyond  the  middle  of  it,  but  if 
he  was  headed  off  and  caught,  the  luckless  urchin 
got  rolled  in  the  dirt  or  had  his  face  washed  in  the 
snow. 

In  these  friendly  fights  the  *' Little  Cuss"  never 
took  much  part.  He  was  timid  and  shy  and  was 
never  counted  in  for  mischief,  though  he  was  never 
left  out  for  any  innocent  fun  or  merriment,  and  his 
divine  punishment  now  came  swiftly  to  the  great 
satisfaction  of  the  fighters,  when  he  received  his 
first  lesson  of  vicarious  atonement  for  a  brother's 
sins. 

The  Rip  Van  Winkle  of  the  village  was  old  Sam 
Hawley,  who  lived  two  miles  south  and  used  to 
come  into  the  village  on  winter  evenings  with  a 
load  of  wood  on  a  big  ox  sled,  and  after  selling  it, 
would  leave  the  patient  oxen  standing  in  the  cold  in 
front  of  the  tavern,  while  he  drank  up  the  proceeds 
in  the  bar-room. 

That  became  such  an  affliction   to  his   family 


36  BORDER  LANDS   OF   FAITH. 

Gretchen  that  those  village  boys  took  great  delight 
in  watching  for  him,  and  when  he  was  oblivious 
in  the  bar-room,  they  would  start  those  cattle  off 
home,  getting  them  far  ahead,  and  leaving  Sam  to 
walk  after  them  if  he  was  able  to. 

Of  course  no  one  had  seen  them  do  it,  but  they 
played  that  on  him  so  often  that  he  became  sus- 
picious, and  one  night  laid  for  them  with  a  new 
hickory  ox  goad  of  formidable  dimensions. 

As  the  cattle  started  this  time,  out  rushed  old 
Hawley  yelling,  **  Whoa  there,"  and  lashing  about 
him  heavily  with  the  ox  goad.  Not  a  boy  was  hit 
except  little  Clay  who  happened  to  be  standing 
near  the  door,  having  had  no  part  in  it,  and  his 
conscience  was  so  clear  and  his  sense  of  innocence 
80  strong  that  he  never  thought  of  running  away, 
but  merely  stood  and  took  an  awful  licking,  only 
crying  out,  **  Oh,  Mr.  Hawley,  I  ain't  onel  I  ain't 
one!"  The  boys  yelled  at  him,  **Run,  you  little 
cuss,  run  1 "    And  that  became  his  name  ever  after. 

But  he  did  not  run,  and  he  was  quite  happy 
when  Hawley  finally  said,  **I  believe  you.  Clay,  I 
know  you  ain't  one,  but  I  have  licked  ye  on  Bill's 
account." 

And  when  the  Elder  heard  that  he  gave  those 
boys  a  lecture  on  the  value  of  vicarious  suffering 
which  they  never  forgot,  but  that  account  ran 
heavily  against  Hawley  thereafter. 


nature's  teaching.  37 


CHAPTER  IV. 
nature's  teaching. 

The  groves  were  God's  first  Temples, 

ere  man  learned 
To  hew  the  shaft  and  lay  the  architrave, 
And  spread  the  roof  above  them, — ere  he  framed 
The  lofty  vault  to  gather  and  roll  back 
The  sound  of  anthems  ;  in  the  darkling  wood 
Amidst  the  cool  and  silence,  he  knelt  down 
And  offered  to  the  mightiest  solemn  thanks 
And  supplication. 

— Bryanfs  Forest  Hymn. 

Those  boys  grew  up  with  their  sister  Katie  now 
close  behind  them,  in  that  wilderness  of  Nature's 
rarest  charms. 

Though  they  attended  church,  they  liked  best  to 
avoid  it  if  they  could,  and  run  away  for  a  Sunday 
in  the  woods,  or  to  go  in  swimming  or  fishing  for 
the  red-finned  shiners,  more  precious  than  any 
trout,  or  to  gather  the  rich  butternuts,  the  walnuts, 
and  shagbarks,  the  beechnuts  and  chestnuts,  the 
wild  cherries  and  flowers. 

And  what  woods  those  were  in  those  unhewn 
forests  %  Huge  oaks  and  maples,  with  beech  and 
birch,  made  a  shade  so  dense  that  no  underbrush 
could  grow,  and  they  grew  with  smooth  bark  and 


38  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

clean  tall  stems  that  lifted  the  dense  canopy  high 
above  the  brown  and  cool  leaf -carpeted  floor. 

What  a  temple  for  meditation  and  worship  1 
Nothing  pleased  the  little  Deacon  so  well,  and 
thither  sped  the  yonng  Neophyte  early  on  the  Sab- 
bath alone.  He  conld  not  understand  why  the 
other  boys  did  not  enjoy  as  he  did  the  exquisite 
charm  of  that  communion  with  nature,  and  he  soon 
found  that  to  feel  its  power  he  must  be  alone. 
Thus  he  went  and  the  hush  of  a  tender  awe  fell 
upon  his  spirit  as  he  there  entered  his  cathedral. 
There  was  no  prying  curiosity,  no  critical  scrutiny ; 
no  questioning.  Nature  seemed  to  him  so  sympa- 
thetic and  calm,  so  gentle,  so  kindly. 

The  divine  mother  of  mankind  seemed  there  to 
fold  him  to  her  bosom  and  to  comfort  him  with  an 
embrace  of  infinite  tenderness.  Her  presence  seemed 
to  fill  him  with  peace,  and  with  faith;  doubts, 
which  thronged  his  mind  in  company,  here  van- 
ished away.  In  the  woods  he  seemed  to  breathe 
the  air  of  Heaven  and  to  touch  the  loving  and  gen- 
tle hand  of  God. 

Many  wondered  why  the  stripling  always  made 
off  alone,  for  the  remotest  fields,  woods  or  waters, 
and  why  he  brought  nothing  back  ;  nuts,  flowers, 
curious  leaves  or  barks,  he  seemed  to  care  nothing 
for,  and  though  he  carried  a  rifle  and  was  a  good 
shot,  he  seemed  most  happy  and  lighthearted  when 
he  had  killed  or  wounded  nothing,  and  had  not 
-even  fired  his  gun. 


natuee's  teaching.  39 

When  asked  why  he  carried  a  gun  and  seldom 
used  it,  he  would  laugh  and  tell  the  story  of  the 
old  Puritan  parson  at  Deerfield,  who  always  took 
his  musket  into  the  pulpit  with  him. 

When  his  wife  reminded  him  of  his  favorite  doc- 
trine of  fate  and  foreordination,  and  that  he  of 
course  could  not  be  killed  or  hurt  till  his  time 
came,  he  replied,  ^'Yes,  my  dear,  that  is  correct; 
but  suppose  I  should  happen  to  meet  a  bad  Indian 
and  his  time  had  come,  if  I  had  not  my  gun,  God's 
will  might  be  frustrated  I  " 

He  soon  learned  that  the  lightest  footfall  of  man, 
the  cracking  of  a  twig,  the  rustling  of  a  leaf  under 
the  foot,  was  a  note  of  alarm  there  in  Nature's 
cathedral,  and  that  a  man  passing  through  the 
woods,  seeing  no  living  thing,  was  in  truth  covered 
and  studied  by  hundreds  of  eager  eyes  which  he 
could  not  see. 

He  would  go  into  the  deepest  forest  for  his  Sab- 
bath worship,  seat  himself  at  the  foot  of  some  great 
tree,  breathe  with  delight  the  cool  fragrance  of  the 
air,  listen  to  the  gentle  sigh  of  the  light  wind,  and 
in  perfect  silence  pass  into  a  state  of  exquisite  peace 
and  calm  lightheartedness,  whose  bliss  he  knew 
would  be  brief. 

As  soon  as  the  sound  of  his  footstep  was  for- 
gotten, and  his  moving  figure  fairly  out  of  sight, 
then  '^  chirp  ! "  began  the  service  of  song  of  some 
open-eyed  bird.  A  chip-munk  peered  over  the  root 
of  a  neighboring  tree,  and  the  red  squirrel  answered 


40  BOEDEE  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

from  the  limb  above  where  he  had  been  lying  un- 
seen. Then  a  rustling  at  the  very  top  of  a  lofty 
tree  showed  where  the  big  grey  or  black  squirrel 
was  gathering  the  nuts,  or  springing  from  tree  to 
tree  in  the  frolic  of  free  life  for  fun. 

Birds  innumerable  soon  showed  themselves  where 
the  trees  had  seemed  so  utterly  lifeless  a  moment 
before :  and,  unless  the  footstep  of  man  brought 
again  that  sudden  and  total  silence,  the  woods  were 
everywhere  vocal  and  animate  with  that  teeming, 
eager,  joyful  life.  Insatiable  was  the  delight  of 
this  youDg  semi- savage  as  he  shared  it,  a  child  of 
nature,  there  at  home  with  his  kindred  ;  and  in- 
finitely varied  was  the  service,  no  two  days  ever 
being  alike. 

September's  rain  made  in  the  forest  a  soothing 
music  all  its  own.  October's  wind  stilled  the  ani- 
mate voices,  but  roused  the  wood  and  the  soul  of 
the  worshipper  with  organ  tones,  rich  and  grand. 

The  scenes,  the  sounds,  the  interpretation,  varied 
with  the  season.  Now  the  boy  was  watching  the 
clumsy  wood-chuck  basking  on  a  stump  in  the  field, 
peering  from  the  mouth  of  his  burrow,  or  timidly 
foraging  near  by.  Now  the  muskrats  were  busy  in 
November,  building  their  houses  of  grass.  Here  the 
light-footed  fox  was  tripping  through  the  edge  of 
the  wood  or  curiously  peering  over  a  log  behind 
which  its  body  was  hidden. 

Now  the  mourning-dove  was  gently  cooing  in  the 
depth    of   the  wood, — the  wicked -looking    king- 


nature's  teaching.  41 

fisher  was  screaming  by  the  river, — the  quail  was 
calling  Bob  White,  and  the  great  blue  heron  was 
slowly  fanning  its  way  up  the  stream  or  standing 
intent  and  watchful  in  the  pool.  Now  the  hawks 
were  sailing  and  swooping  at  midday,  and  often  an 
immense  flock  of  wild  pigeons  covered  the  whole 
sky,  or  lighted  on  a  stubble  field  to  feed,  when 
as  the  hungry  ones  in  the  rear  continually  rose  and 
flew  over  to  alight  again  in  front,  the  whole  mass 
seemed  to  roll  like  an  enormous  blue  billow  across 
the  clean-picked  field. 

His  usual  ramble  was  down  the  Honeoye  on  its 
south  side  seven  miles  to  the  Genesee,  and  then 
crossing  over  by  a  log  dam  there,  and  up  the  north 
side  to  the  bridge  below  the  Falls  ;  but  often  the 
path  went  up  the  Genesee  seven  miles,  to  the 
famous  Avon  Springs,  then  running  wild  in  the 
woods. 

And  often  also  the  long  trail  of  the  hunter  wound 
westward  fifty  miles  to  Niagara. 

There,  the  mighty  Father  of  Waters,  coming 
from  his  long  line  of  noble  ancestry  of  the  great 
lakes  behind  him,  rushes  to  his  merry  bridal  with 
the  fair  Ontario,  the  smiling  and  happy  daughter 
of  the  Senecas,  and  their  great  family  of  the  Thou- 
sand Islands  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  thou- 
sand lakes  of  the  Adirondacks,  make  the  earthly 
Paradise. 

Once  he  strayed  from  an  excursion  party,  and 
remained  all  night   alone  with  Niagara  on  the 


42  BORDER   LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

island  in  the  Falls,  and  there  and  then  tried  to 
answer  some  of  the  questions  of  his  life. 

Nature  had  seemed  to  him  a  teacher  so  sympa- 
thetic, that  he  pictured  her  grander  phenomena  as 
interpreters  of  all  its  problems  for  the  soul. 

No  answers  came,  but  the  air  was  dense  with  the 
spray  and  more  bracing  than  any  he  had  ever 
breathed.  Every  sense  was  alert  and  keen,  and 
the  bewildering  tumult  of  conflicting  tones  seemed 
as  though  nature  were  speaking  in  such  majestic 
voices  that  the  feeble  human  soul  could  not  compre- 
hend. 

It  speaks  of  Nature's  dawn,  when  God  brought 
order  out  of  chaos  millions  of  years  before  man 
existed,  and  we  have  not  yet  fully  learned  that 
language. 

At  midnight  alone  on  the  island,  he  sat  by  a  tree, 
wrapped  in  a  heavy  gray  shawl,  and  dreamed  and 
meditated  and  listened  till  there  came  a  rushing 
sound  new  to  his  ears,  and  a  great  forest  eagle 
swooped  down  to  its  familiar  perch  on  a  dead  limb 
not  thirty  feet  from  where  he  sat.  His  heart  beat 
tumultuously,  as  he  had  never  before  seen  an  eagle, 
but  silent  and  motionless  he  sat  and  gazed  at  it  till 
the  beautiful  creature  stretched  forth  its  neck  and 
turned  its  head,  slowly  scrutinizing  the  wild  scene, 
till  their  eyes  met.  Then  starting  as  if  in  fear,  it 
stood  more  erect  and  raised  its  majestic  head  as  if 
looking  over  its  shoulder  for  danger.  Its  grand 
eyes  seemed  to  open  wider  as  it  eagerly  gazed  at 


nature's  teaching.  48 

the  unfamiliar  intruder  in  its  home  ;  and  then  rais- 
ing itself,  but  without  alarm  or  haste,  it  slowly- 
spread  its  powerful  wings  and  soared  majestically 
away  and  higher  and  higher  into  the  sky. 

Day  was  breaking  as  it  sailed  away,  and  though 
it  was  but  a  usual  incident,  it  seemed  to  that  ex- 
cited boy  like  a  heavenly  visitation,  so  proud,  so 
calm,  so  quick  to  see,  so  grand  in  motion,  it  seemed 
like  the  incarnation  of  some  noble  spirit,  sent  to 
summon  him  higher  and  higher,  to  a  life  of  lofty 
effort  and  devotion,  and  to  demand  of  him  a  vow 
of  consecration. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  eagle  had  spoken  to  him,  and 
that  the  command  had  fallen  upon  him  then  and 
there,  both  from  his  earthly  and  his  heavenly 
Father,  that  he  was  to  become  a  Minister  of  Grace, 
devoting  his  life  to  the  highest  discernments  and 
manifestations  of  Truth.  He  had  long  had  the  idea 
that  Truth  was  everywhere  manifest  in  Nature,  but 
that  Grace  and  Love  were  most  everywhere  want- 
ing. 

He  started  up  with  a  suppressed  exclamation,  and 
rejoined  the  great  Sunday-school  excursion  to  re- 
turn home,  exclaiming,  as  he  met  his  parents, 
**  Father,  I  will  try,  I  will  try.'' 

On  hearing  that  story,  Bill  said,  **  Why  didn't 
you  shoot  him,  Clay  ?  " 

But  Clay  said,  *'Why,  I  would  as  soon  have 
thought  of  shooting  my  father." 


IP 


44  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

And   years  afterwards  he  wrote  this  poem   in 
remembrance  of  those  early  scenes. 

On  the  Honeoye. 

In  that  Eden  land  flowing, 
^  Joy  goes  with  its  going, 

Glad  stream  of  my  youth,  Genesee. 
Where  I  roamed  as  a  boy 
Down  the  bright  Honeoye, 

Which  babbled  for  Katie  and  me. 

On  its  bonnie  banks  daily 
We  rambled  so  gaily, 

That  moonlight  oft  broke  on  our  glee  ; 
And  a  rose  cottage  rises 
Where  sunlight  surprises 

Oft  waited  for  Katie  and  me. 

And  the  blue  heron  nightly 
His  wings  spread  as  lightly, 

As  leaves  on  the  butternut  tree, 
Where  the  squirrels  ran  chipping 
And  wild  bees  were  sipping 

Their  honey  like  Katie  and  me. 

Honeoye  !  the  wild  Indian  named  it, 
But  bridges  and  mills  have  now  tamed  it 

To  almost  forget  it  was  free  ; 
When  the  fish  in  its  rills 
With  no  hook  in  their  gills 

Just  leaped  out  for  Katie  and  me. 


nature's  teaching.  45 

Ah,  that  life  was  beautiful, 
Clever  and  dutiful, 

And  joyful  as  ever  was  seen  ; 
But  its  bright  dreams  are  ended, 
In  sadder  life  blended, 

And  fifty  now  laughs  at  fifteen. 


46,  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CHRISTIAN   PALLADIUM. 

The  Elder  had  not  quite  fulfilled  all  of  Zeb  Town- 
send' 8  expectations  of  *' whaling  them  Orthodox," 
as  his  creed  at  most  was  only  a  blossom  from  the 
old  Orthodox  tree,  which  merely  avoided  the  thorns 
of  controversy,  as  most  of  its  churches  have  been 
doing  ever  since.  But  when  he  had  baptized  two 
of  Zeb's  daughters,  and  had  married  off  two  of 
Zeb's  sons,  the  old  man's  prospects  of  "raisin' 
some  on  'em  out  here,"  seemed  to  be  improving. 
He  was  a  good  man,  peaceful  and  happy,  but  often 
said  *'  I  will  have  peace  if  I  have  to  fight  for  it  till 
I  die." 

Yet  such  was  the  sectarian  war  of  the  time,  that 
old  Zeb  finally  went  with  the  east  siders  in  a  little 
suburb  called  Dogtown,  a  mile  up  the  river,  and 
there  helped  them  organize  and  build  a  new  Uni- 
versalist  Church. 

Promptly  came  a  challenge  from  its  new  minister 
to  the  Christian  minister  to  discuss  the  difference 
of  their  Faith,  and  at  it  they  went  with  alternate 
sermons  every  night  in  the  week,  and  closing  with 
a  mutual  summing  up  on  the  following  Sunday  in 
the  new  church. 

The  Christian  was  here  at  a  little  disadvantage, 


OF   THK 

XTHIVERSITY 
THE  CHRISTIAN  PALLADIUM.         ^s£i^^irOUH\^ 

as  he  fully  believed  in  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
which  was  wholly  inconsistent  with  eternal  damna- 
tion, and  he  had  never  in  thought  or  speech  used 
the  word  Hell,  if  it  was  possible  to  avoid  it.  He 
could  therefore  only  urge  the  folly  of  mere  sec- 
tarian and  only  partisan  names  not  found  in  Scrip- 
ture, and  that  the  question  was  one  of  conduct  and 
happiness  in  this  world,  rather  than  of  chances  in 
the  next,  and  that  even  if  God  were  too  good  to 
damn  men  eternally,  it  were  far  better  for  men  to 
become  here  too  good  to  be  damned. 

That  was  a  sticker  and  made  old  Zeb  squirm  in 
his  seat,  but  the  Elder  continued,  that  the  motive 
for  good  conduct  here  was  somewhat  stronger  to 
most  minds  from  the  older  doctrines  of  some  future 
punishment,  and  ended  with  the  question  :  "  Now 
where  is  the  man  who  can  sincerely  say,  I  have  be- 
come a  better  man  here  in  this  world  from  having 
no  fear  of  any  hereafter  ?  " 

That  was  too  much  for  old  Zeb  and  he  promptly 
rose  from  his  seat  on  the  broad    aisle  and  said, 
**  Well,  here  is  one,  sir." 

At  that  square  knock  down,  the  audience  cheered, 
but  the  Elder  was  never  bullied,  and  he  quickly 
made  them  scream  with  delight,  as  he  replied, 
**  Well,  brother  Townsend,  we  are  all  delighted  to 
learn  that  you  have  become  a  better  man.  It  has 
long  been  needed.  This  community  has  been  pray- 
ing for  you  many  years,  and  God  is  indeed  merci- 


48  BORDEE  LANDS  OP  FAITH. 

ful  in  leading  you  at  last  to  see  the  error  of  your 
profane  ways." 

Old  Zeb  collapsed  as  if  he  would  sink  through 
the  floor,  and  was  never  heard  to  swear  again, 
except  to  say  at  the  tavern  the  next  day,  "  Well, 
damn  him,  he  did  gag  me  nicely,  but  then  there's 
more  honesty  in  my  swearin'  than  there  is  in  most 
preachin'." 

And  now  the  "  whalin'  of  them  Orthodox"  really 
began  in  more  earnest. 

The  Elder  finding  his  circuit  quite  too  large  for 
him,  including  now  five  states  besides  New  Eng- 
land, established  at  Rochester  in  1830  the  first  re- 
ligious newspaper  ever  published  west  of  the  Hud- 
son River.  It  was  a  monthly  magazine  called  The 
Christian  Palladium. 

He  meant  by  that  the  Defender  of  the  Faith,  as 
his  campaign  had  not  been  aggressive,  but  always, 
as  he  claimed,  in  the  defense  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus  against  Theology. 

Religion  he  defined  as  the  garden  of  the  soul  in 
which  the  kindly  affections  bloom,  but  Theology 
was  only  men's  thoughts  about  God,  which  as  all 
history  had  proven,  were  of  but  little  value,  as 
scarcely  any  two  of  them  ever  thought  exactly 
alike. 

Pallas  was  the  Grecian  Goddess  of  Wisdom, 
whom  the  Romans  called  Minerva,  who  sprang 
ready  armed  from  the  brow  of  Jove. 

Her  statue,  called  the  Palladium,  was  said  to 


THE  CHRISTIAN  PALLADIUM.  49 

have  fallen  from  heaven  for  the  protection  of  Troy. 
It  was  a  female  figure  sitting,  with  a  spindle  and 
distaff  in  her  left  hand,  and  a  spear  in  her  right,  to 
indicate  protection  to  peace  and  industry,  and  as 
long  as  it  was  unharmed  in  her  Temple,  the  city 
was  considered  safe  and  invulnerable. 

So  the  Christian  Palladium  fell  from  Heaven  to 
defend  the  Christian  Church  against  Theology. 

"  *Tis  greatly  wise  to  talk  with  our  past  hours, 
And  ask  them  what  report  they  bore  to  Heaven." 

That  was  its  first  motto,  and  its  first  editorial  on 
the  Deformities  of  Sectarianism  was  an  appeal  for 
sincerity  in  all  things,  that  would  let  a  blow  be  a 
blow,  and  a  smile  be  a  smile. 

Though  it  was  launched  as  a  peaceful  craft,  it 
was  soon  so  attacked  on  all  sides  that  it  necessarily 
became  a  Man  of  War,  and  its  battle  flag  was  soon 
waving,  bearing  these  words,  *' Religion  without 
Bigotry,  Zeal  without  Fanaticism,  and  Liberty 
without  Licentiousness." 

Its  Editor  was  challenged  everywhere  to  public 
discussion,  and  though  he  never  gave  a  challenge, 
yet  he  never  refused  one. 

The  Presbyterians  were  then  on  their  great  split 
of  old  school  and  new  school.  North  and  South, 
and  the  Campbellites  and  Methodists  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  the  Disciples  and  Baptists  in  Ohio,  and 
the  Freewillers,  Quakers  and  Comeouters  were 
everywhere,  with  the  Millerites  and  the  Adventists 


50  BORDER   LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

and  Spiritualists  soon  to  follow  ;  and  tlie  main 
object  of  the  Palladium  was,  if  possible,  to  harmo- 
nize these  warring  sects,  or  at  least  to  abolish  these 
foolish  names,  and  bring  them  to  unite  on  the 
simple  word  Christian. 

They  will  do  it,  he  said.  They  must  do  it  in 
time.  It  is  the  only  central  and  commanding  posi- 
tion to  take. 

The  labors  of  that  conflict  were  endless.  The 
Diary  has  many  entries  like  this  :  '*  Sept.  11,  1832 : 
The  Presbyterians  having  sent  for  me,  I  rode 
this  day  fifty  miles,  preached  in  their  church  at 
4  p.  M.,  nearly  two  hours,  again  in  the  evening  two 
long  hours,  and  then  conversed  with  many  until 
midnight,  when  my  mind  became  so  full  that  no 
sleep  came  till  three  o'clock.  There  were  present 
many  earnest  gentlemen  of  talents  and  wealth,  who 
are  all  liberal-minded  Christians." 

That  was  the  western  echo  of  the  great  Unitarian 
revolt  in  Boston,  about  that  time,  when  some  fifty 
of  the  old  blue  light  Congregational  churches  con- 
cluded to  drop  Calvinism  utterly,  and  almost  to 
drop  Puritanism,  and  to  follow  Dr.  William  Ellery 
Channing  and  his  old  Federal  Street  Orthodox 
Church  into  the  new  light  of  the  old  religion  of 
Jesus,  which  had  been  almost  extinguished  and 
obliterated  by  the  Theology  of  the  dark  ages. 

The  shadow  of  those  ages  had  extended  over  the 
previous  century  even  in  this  new  world,  but  the 
Church  of  the  Forefathers  had  now  broken  in  two. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  PALLADIUM.  51 

Dr.  Channing,  born  in  Newport,  had  graduated 
at  Harvard  College  in  1798,  and  soon  after  at  twenty- 
three  years  of  age,  entered  upon  the  Orthodox 
Ministry  in  Boston,  and  for  twenty  years  thereafter 
tried  to  preach  its  doctrines.  There  was  then  no 
Unitarian  Church  or  sect  in  America,  and  outside  of 
Boston  the  very  name  was  only  known  as  one  of 
dread  and  obloquy. 

He  first  carried  that  name  to  Baltimore,  where  in 
1819  he  preached  a  great  heretical  sermon,  which 
might  have  burned  him  at  the  stake  a  century 
earlier. 

He  said  soon  after  that,  '*  I  cheerfully  take  the 
name  of  a  Unitarian.  I  wish  to  regard  myself  as 
belonging,  not  to  a  sect,  but  to  the  community  of 
free  minds,  of  lovers  of  truth,  of  followers  of  Christ 
on  earth  and  in  Heaven."  And  by  Christ  he  meant 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  later  refinements  of  the 
higher  criticism  as  to  his  being  the  Christ  not 
having  yet  arisen. 

And  fifteen  years  later,  when  about  retiring  from 
the  active  ministry,  in  1835,  to  his  scholarly  retreat 
and  home  at  Providence,  he  said,  "  I  need  several 
lives  to  do  what  I  feel  I  have  yet  to  do." 

He  also  said,  '*  the  word  Hell  has  done  unspeak- 
able injury  to  Christianity." 

''  The  only  power  which  can  and  ought  to  be 
loved  is  a  beneficent  and  righteous  power."  *  *    * 

*'  But  one  object  is  worthy  of  enduring  love,  in 
Heaven  or  on  earth,  and  that  is  Moral  Goodness.    I 


52  BOEDEE  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

make  no  exceptions,  my  principle  applies  to  all 
beings,  to  the  Creator  as  well  as  his  creatures." 

"The  voice  of  our  whole  nature,  properly  inter- 
preted is  a  cry  for  a  higher  existence. 

**The  germ  of  Immortality  is  in  the  conscience 
that  includes  as  one  of  its  elements  a  presentiment 
of  retribution  ;  in  the  Eeason  that  beholds  in  the 
present  an  incomplete  destiny ;  in  the  thirst  for 
Happiness  that  is  too  deep  to  be  satisfied  on  earth, 
but  opens  into  aspiration  towards  an  infinitely 
blessed  Being  ;  in  the  love  of  moral  goodness  and 
beauty  which  awakens  the  Ideal  of  spotless  virtue 
and  the  desire  of  community  with  the  All  Perfect 
One,"     *    *    * 

**  Very  few  state  with  sufficient  strength  and 
precision  this  moral  foundation  and  nature  of  our 
religion  :  that  Love  to  God  is  from  beginning  to  end 
only  the  love  of  virtue  and  goodness.  On  this 
ground  and  no  other  our  religion  rests." 

'*  Unitarianism  began  as  a  protest  against  the  re^ 
jection  of  Reason — against  mental  slavery. 

**This  truth  ought  not  to  be  disguised,  that  our 
ultimate  reliance  is  and  must  be  on  our  reason. 
Faith  in  this  power  is  the  foundation  of  all  other 
Faith. 

**  Reason  is  the  faculty  to  which  Revelation  is 
addressed,  and  by  which  alone  it  can  be  understood. 
I  can  conceive  no  sacrilege  greater  than  to  renounce 
this  highest  faculty,  which  we  have  derived  from 
God." 


THE  CHRISTIAN  PALLADIUM.  58 

*'  I  am  surer  that  my  rational  nature  is  from  God 
than  that  any  book  is  an  expression  of  His 
will."     *    *    ^ 

"Nothing  has  wrought  so  powerfully  on  the 
human  soul  as  the  mind  and  character  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Jesus  with  his  celestial  love  is  the  life  of 
His  religion." 

*'  Yet  many  hope  to  be  happy  through  Christ's 
dying  agony,  as  a  substitute  for  virtue  in  themselves, 
much  more  than  by  participating  in  his  self-sacri- 
ficing life." 

*'  I  doubt  whether  any  error  has  done  so  much  to 
rob  Christianity  of  its  purifying  and  ennobling 
power,  as  these  false  views  of  the  Atonement." 

Those  were  almost  his  last  words  as  he  died  in 
1842,  and  how  grandly  that  theme  was  carried  for- 
ward by  his  associates,  all  the  world  now  knows. 

Those  words  brought  on  what  is  now  known  as 
the  great  debates  for  the  next  twenty  years  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  Christianity. 

The  great  tidal  waves  of  that  debate  broke  on  the 
border  lands  of  the  western  frontier,  and  rolled  over 
them  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  Christian  Palladium  was  tossed  like  a  ship 
in  the  white  foam  of  those  breakers,  but  rode  them 
like  a  thing  of  life. 

But  it  so  ''  whaled  them  Orthodox"  on  one  side, 
and  them  Unitarians  on  the  other,  as  to  be  long 
known  as  the  ''Paddle  'em,"— the  "Christian 
Paddle  'em." 


64  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 


CHAPTER  YI. 

CHANNING  IN  1825. 

All  those  noble  principles,  so  clearly  stated,  were 
copied  from  time  to  time  in  the  **  Palladium,"  and 
commented  on,  and  sometimes  in  sorrow  the  plea  of 
reason  was  criticised,  and  the  suggestion  of  Jesus 
persuasively  repeated,  that  spiritual  things  must  be 
spiritually  discerned,  and  that  there  is  an  instinct 
of  religion  which  is  higher  than  reason,  and  which 
is  the  ultimate  reliance  of  Faith. 

The  Greeks  by  wisdom  knew  not  God,  and  this 
truth  of  babes  and  sucklings  is  still  to  be  made 
manifest. 

The  Editor  regarded  those  Unitarians  as  only  a 
new  sect,  and  he  compared  C banning  and  Ware  to 
the  wise  Ulysses  and  Diomed,  who  with  only  a 
wooden  horse  entered  Troy  and  carried  off  to  Athens 
the  heaven-sent  statue  of  the  Palladium. 

He  considered  their  name  as  most  unfortunate 
and  said  it  would  prove  their  greatest  encumbrance, 
as  without  it  their  principles  might  have  extended 
everywhere,  like  the  leaven  in  the  meal. 

He  named  Boston  the  Modern  Athens,  and  quoted 
the  Trojan  who  said,  **  I  fear  those  Greeks  bearing 
gifts," — Timeo  Danaos  donaferentes. 

He  had  known  Dr.  C  banning  in  Boston,  and  felt 


CHAINING  IN   1825.  55 

the  greatest  respect  for  Mm,  and  he  had  also  been 
intimate  there  with  Dr.  Tuckerman,  Dr.  Gannett 
and  Henry  Ware,  whose  son  came  soon  after  to 
found  the  Unitarian  Society  at  Rochester,  where  he 
was  heartily  welcomed  as  a  co-worker  for  Christ. 

An  editorial  announced  that  new  church  hand- 
somely, and  said,  though  the  Unitarians  may  not 
be  our  friends,  they  may  be  sure  that  their  enemies 
and  ours  are  the  same. 

He  had  also  visited  Dr.  Channing  at  his  home  in 
Newport,  and  had  there  drawn  from  him  his 
famous  letter  on  a  higher  education  of  the  ministry, 
in  which  he  finally  said  : 

''  Faithful  are  the  wounds  of  a  friend  ;  I  feel  that 
my  brethren  and  I  may  learn  much  from  you,  and 
my  heart  has  been  too  full  to  allow  me  to  guard  and 
study  my  language.  I  feel  that  a  minister,  scantily 
educated,  but  fervent  in  spirit,  will  win  more  souls 
to  Christ,  than  the  most  learned  minister  whose 
heart  is  cold,  whose  words  are  frozen,  whose  eye 
never  kindles  with  feeling,  whose  form  is  never  ex- 
panded with  the  greatness  of  his  thoughts  and  the 
ardor  of  his  love." 

''  There  is  no  preparation  for  a  minister  so  needed 
as  religious  experience.  All  books  are  worthless 
without  it.  But  the  greater  the  learning  of  a  truly 
religious  man,  the  greater  his  humility,  and  the 
more  he   feels  his  need  of  wisdom  from  above. 


56  BOEDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

Learning  and  piety  are  not  foes,  bnt  allies  and 
friends." 

'*  But  you  must,  you  must  think  more  of  educat- 
ing your  ministers,  or  you  cannot  take  your  proper 
place  in  the  Christian  world,  or  exert  the  influence 
which  belongs  to  you,  or  do  justice  to  your  princi- 
ples." 

Those  noble  words  bore  golden  fruit  after  many 
years,  as  appears  in  our  next  chapter,  but  meantime 
the  Editor  published  the  letter  and  answered  it  with 
spirit  as  follows  : 

**  We  see  so  many  ignorant  men  coming  out  of 
colleges  who  are  mere  college  dunces,  crowding  into 
the  ministry  because  unfit  for  anything  else,  and 
pretending  to  teach  Theology,  though  they  were 
never  designed  by  nature  for  the  ministry,  and  who 
are  as  ignorant  of  God's  grace,  and  the  first  princi- 
ples of  the  Christian  religion  as  Nicodemus  was  of 
the  new  birth,  that  we  regard  them  as  sources  of 
corruption  and  division,  rather  than  helps  to  the 
Church  of  God. 

It  is  well  also  to  remember  occasionally  that  Jesus 
was  uneducated  and  never  wrote  a  word  so  far  as 
known,  except  with  his  finger  in  the  sand." 

The  position  of  Channing,  in  dropping  the  Trin- 
ity, and  yet  acknowledging  Jesus  as  the  Christ, 
without  in  any  way  confounding  him  with  the 
Deity,  was  exactly  the  position  of  that  Christian 
Church,  which  was  organized  into  Conferences, 
local  and  national,  numbering  half  a  million  of 


CHANNING   IN  1825.  57 

church  members,  while  the  Unitarians  were  only  the 
United  Arians,  including  Luther  and  Calvin,  as  or- 
ganized in  Hungary  in  1563  against  Rome. 

They  had  done  their  best  to  obtain  an  educated 
ministry,  but  such  men  as  Dr.  Channing  and  the 
Editor  of  the  Palladium,  were  few  and  far  between, 
and  are  the  growth  of  centuries,  and  do  not  spread 
like  the  grass  in  the  field. 

They  only  differed,  if  at  all,  on  the  question  of 
the  Atonement,  and  the  effect  of  vicarious  suffering 
of  the  innocent  for  the  guilty,  which  has  come  to  be 
considered  as  the  very  essence  of  God's  grace. 

That  there  is  some  Divine  purpose  in  it  is  appar- 
ent from  its  being  a  universal  law  of  nature,  and 
as  this  was  a  favorite  theme  of  the  Editor  of  the 
Palladium,  he  set  it  forth  at  length  in  answer  to 
Dr.  Channing,  as  follows  : 

**God  has  not  withheld  his  choicest  gifts  for 
thousands  of  years  from  his  children,  to  shower 
them  now  upon  his  latest  born.  His  wondrous 
compensations  make  all  the  ages  rich  ;  and  he  re- 
veals himself  to  the  child  or  to  the  savage  more 
readily  than  to  the  man  of  science, — unless  the  man 
of  science  keeps,  as  he  very  often  does,  the  heart 
of  a  child.  Science  sees  more  and  more  clearly 
that  the  '* natural"  is  wholly  mechanical.  But  it 
is  only  assumption  or  self-delusion  that  carries  this 
fact  over  into  the  realm  of  spirit.  There  life  moves 
by  a  wholly  different  law.  There  man  follows  feel- 
ing, not  ''thought,"  instinct,  not  logic,  affection,  not 


58  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

speculation,  God's  quick  soliciting,  not  man's  slow- 
understanding. 

Science  rests  on  speculation,  art  does  not.  Art 
creates  before  criticism  or  theory  comes  in. 
Especially  is  this  true  in  that  art  of  arts,  the 
religious  life.  Somebody  prays  before  anybody 
begins  to  study  prayer.  Christ  lives  long  before 
the  scholars  begin  to  study  life. 

God's  love  moves  the  soul  to  mighty  efforts 
and  attainments,  long  before  our  slow  science 
is  able  to  see  that  Love  is  the  foundation 
of  all  true  science  as  well  as  of  all  Righteous- 
ness and  all  Truth.  That  fact  revealed  to  rever- 
ent seers  long  before  the  dawn  of  science  sets 
devout  affection  at  the  base  of  the  religious  life. 
This  perception  makes  worship,  communion,  medi- 
tation, listening  to  the  spirit,  devout  love,  conscien- 
tious aspirations,  self-sacrificing  charity, — these, 
and  not  any  scientific  study  or  attainment,— the 
foundations  and  implements,  the  chief  elements 
and  activities  in  human  life. 

Increasing  man's  knowledge  of  nature's  laws, 
gathering,  sorting,  storing  and  scrutinizing  the 
facts  of  science, — all  that  is  good.  But  all  that 
has  only  an  indirect  and  incidental  bearing  on 
human  life.  While  we  study  only  material 
motions,  whether  between  planets  or  among 
brain-molecules,  we  walk  in  the  realm  of  mechan- 
ical sequence,  and  we  there  use  only  mechan- 
isms to  attain  our  ends. 


CHANNING  IN   1825.  59 

To  Pan  men  pray  with  a  plough.  They  petition 
with  a  hoe.  This  may  be  real  prayer  ;  but  it  is  not 
the  whole  of  prayer.  We  claim  that  men,  thus 
fixing  their  eyes  on  the  ground,  turn  their  backs 
to  the  sky. 

We  rejoice  in  all  man's  gains  in  knowledge,  in 
all  his  searching  of  '  nature'  ;  but  that  is  only  one 
side  of  our  mighty  problem.  Beside  that  we  must 
see  the  astounding  fact  that  every  step  of  the  march 
of  humanity  costs  blood  ;  that  civilization,  at  its 
height,  reeks  with  social  sewage  ;  that  every  ad- 
vance in  Knowledge  seems  to  draw  a  veil  over  the 
face  of  Faith,  to  make  the  joyous  confidence  of 
prayer  or  trust  more  difficult  or  rare,  so  that  the 
more  men  prove  the  existence  of  God,  the  less  men 
believe  it. 

Sorrow  and  suffering  give  a  view  of  our  human 
life  which  we  count  not  superficial  or  cheap  with  a 
teaching  we  deem  untrue.  Pain  is  not  always  the 
result  of  a  broken  law  of  God.  A  tiger  pouncing 
on  a  fawn,  leaving  the  kids  to  starvation,  a  cyclone 
sweeping  away  a  city,  an  earthquake  swallowing 
Lisbon,  a  lightning  stroke  slaying  my  child,  are  not 
exactly  broken  laws  of  God.  Nor  is  it  one  of  the 
laws  of  God  that  children  should  not  stand  in  the 
path  of  thunderbolts. 

Suffering  has  no  such  cheap  explanation  as  to 
lay  to  your  broken  hearts  this  comfort,  that  if  they 
knew  all  God's  laws  and  kept  them,  they  would 
not  suffer. 


60  BORDEE  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

As  men  rise  in  knowledge,  in  wisdom,  in  obedi- 
ence, in  love,  their  sorrows  increase.  In  our  mor- 
tal life  the  highest,  finest,  rarest,  and  most  perfect 
souls  are  those  that  suffer  most.  Their  pains  are 
just  as  keen  as  their  pleasures,  and  the  greatness  of 
their  sorrows  or  sufferings  is  measured  only  by  their 
own  greatness.  They  have,  of  course,  immense  com- 
pensating joys ;  but  they  suffer  all  the  same,  and 
the  true  Saviours  of  mankind  cannot  escape  the 
cross. 

It  is  simply  mmc^-worship  run  mad,  knowledge- 
worship  that  has  quite  lost  its  wits,  which  gives  us 
the  contrary  teaching.  It  is  thoroughly  superficial 
and  unsound  ;  and,  when  a  thinker  so  true  lands  in 
conclusions  so  untrue,  we  perceive  at  once  that  his 
philosophy  is  false. 

Vicarious  suffering  is  the  mightiest  force  now 
uplifting  the  life  of  man.  That  makes  humanity 
human.  Vicarious  suffering  is  the  chisel  that  cuts 
the  finest  faces  mankind  can  show. 

Religions  are  mountain  born,  or  born  in  the 
desert.  Savages  and  unlettered  Arabs  teach  us 
faith.  Thinkers  give  us  theology.  Seers  give  us 
religion.  Not  the  studies  or  thinking  of  men  so 
much  as  the  secret  dreams  of  women — their  patience 
and  hope  and  long-suffering  trust— keep  the  moral 
life  of  mankind  alive.  Masculine  tongues  and 
brains  do  not  give  or  preserve  our  faith. 

Woman's  brooding  heart  is  always  praying. 
Woman's  love  stands  by  life's  well,  and  says  to  the 


CHANNING  IN  1825.  61 

masculine  intellect,  '  Sir,  thou  Last  nothing  to  draw 
with,  and  the  well  is  deep.'  To  the  trustful  com- 
munion of  reverent  consciousness  heaven  opens, 
when  sensation  and  science  are  both  asleep. 

Mystery  and  wonder  and  worship  know  the 
birthplace  of  religion.  They  screen  and  hush  its 
secret  nest.  Their  clouds  and  gleams  and  softened 
lights  ever  enfold  its  cradle.  Tears  are  like  the 
dew  to  its  dawning  life.  Faith  and  hope  are  its 
sunshine,  often  flecked  with  clouds  or  lost  in  night, 
though  God's  love  is  ever  soliciting  and  encourage 
ing  its  trust. 

Our  instincts— even  the  *  babes'  are  the  teach- 
ers and  leaders  of  the  learned.  Thus  the  lowest 
classes  of  mankind  aid,  guide  and  bless  the  high- 
est,— while  literature,  science  and  art  come,  like 
the  three  wise  men  of  the  East,  and  lay  all  they 
have  to  bring  at  the  feet  of  one  manger-cradled 
babe. 

If  Dr.  Channing  had  said  at  Baltimore  in  1819, 
**  I  cheerfully  accept  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  I  will  bear  no  name  but  that  of  Christian,"  who 
can  say  what  the  future  of  American  Sectarianism 
might  have  been? 

But  now  they  have  there  and  elsewhere  such 
names  as  "  The  First  Independent  Christ  Church  of 
Baltimore,"  and  alas  the  lowest  Heathen  still  ex- 
claims at  the  word  Christianity,  **  which  kindl" 
And  the  ridicule  of  the  world  has  been  justly 


62  BORDEE  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

kindled  by  the  French  Tourist  in  New  England, 
who,  finding  nothing  but  beans,  exclaimed : 

**My  God,  what  a  country,  twenty  religions  and 
only  one  soup  I  " 

The  Editor  of  the  Palladium  believed  the  wise 
men  of  the  East,  those  few  learned  men  of  Boston 
who  ignored  that  Christian  organization  lost  their 
greatest  opportunity. 

He,  however,  quite  enjoyed  his  last  public  ordi- 
nance, which  was  in  1848  to  baptize  by  immersion  a 
Unitarian  clergyman  who  then  graduated  at  Mead- 
ville. 


ANTIOCH   COLLEGE.  63 


CHAPTER  VII. 


ANTIOCH     COLLEGE. 


Bethlehem  it  had  been  named,  but  when  the 
Editor  of  the  Palladium  was  asked  to  send  a  scrip- 
ture text  or  motto  to  place  over  its  Library  door, 
it  was  found  to  read  : 

Acts,  11:26.  *'  The  Disciples  were  first  called 
Christians  at  Antioch." 

So  that  became  its  name,  when  consummation 
came  at  last  to  the  life-long  dream  of  those  faithful 
Christian  hearts  on  the  Border  Lands  of  western 
civilization  to  have  a  college  of  their  own  ;  when 
the  golden  words  of  Channing  had  ripened  into 
fruit. 

A  noble  president  was  happily  chosen  for  it  by 
an  ingenuous  impulse  from  the  same  source  as  its 
fortunate  name. 

It  was  a  bold  thought,  natural  as  such  thoughts 
are  to  the  minds  of  a  free  people,  which  called  the 
most  eminent  educator  America  has  ever  known,  to 
preside  over  an  unknown  college  in  the  woods,  to 
be  built  of  bricks  as  yet  unburned,  and  resting 
only  on  golden  hopes  which  might  never  be 
realized. 

The  educator  was  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Massachussets,  who  happened  to  have  been  also 


64  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

for  many  years  at  the  head  of  its  State  Board  of 
Education,  controlling  all  its  public  schools,  and 
in  that  position  had  made  a  world-wide  reputation. 

He  was  also  a  scholar  of  high  rank,  and  quite 
above  the  trade  of  politicians  who  were  using  his 
learning  and  influence  for  their  own  purposes,  and 
so  unfitted  was  he  for  politics  by  having  a  refined 
and  over-sensitive  nature,  that  he  once  said  that 
even  at  Washington,  in  Congress,  he  often  felt 
like  a  skinned  man  among  nettles. 

His  great  love  of  liberty  had  also  led  him  during 
the  great  conflict  of  1850,  to  openly  oppose  and  as- 
sail Boston's  great  idol,  Daniel  Webster,  for  his 
7th-of-March  speech  on  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  his 
last  bid  for  the  Presidency,  but  also  a  very  noble 
appeal  for  peace  and  further  forbearance,  in  wliich 
he  advised  New  England  '*  to  conquer  her  preju- 
dices,'*  and  in  effect  to  allow  the  South,  as  it 
threatened  to  do,  to  call  the  roll  of  its  slaves  at 
the  foot  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  if  it  desired  to 
do  so. 

But  for  that  opposition  he  might  have  succeeded 
Webster  in  the  Senate,  but  Charles  Sumner  stepped 
between  them  and  took  the  prize. 

For  that  7th-of-March  speech  Whittier's  Ichabod 
was  written,  the  most  terrible  arraignment  and 
castigation  that  any  public  man  has  ever  received 
in  this  country  at  the  bar  of  public  opinion. 


ANTIOCH   COLLEGE.  65 


ICHABOD. 


So  fallen  !     So  lost !  the  light  withdrawn, 

Which  once  he  wore  ! 
The  glory  from  his  gray  hairs  gone 

Forevermore  ! 

O,  dumb  be  passion's  stormy  rage, 

When  he  who  might 
Have  lighted  up  and  led  his  age 

Falls  back  in  night. 

Of  all  we  loved  and  honored,  naught 

Save  power  remains, — 
A  fallen  angel's  pride  of  thought. 

Still  strong  in  chains. 

All  else  is  gone  ;  from  those  great  eyes 

The  soul  has  fled  ; 
When  faith  is  lost,  when  honor  dies, 

The  man  is  dead  ! 

Then  pay  the  reverence  of  old  days 

To  his  dead  fame  ; 
Walk  backward  with  averted  gaze 

And  hide  the  shame  ! 

Horace  Mann  sympathized  fully  with  that  casti> 
gation,  and  said  so,  though  he  well  knew  that  his 
Congressional  head  was  likely  to  fall  before  Bos- 
ton's divine  wrath  for  such  desecration  of  its 
Idol. 

Should  it  do  so,  what  would  be  better  for  him 
than  to  take  a  more  congenial  occupation  for  which 


66  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

he  was  far  better  fitted,  by  striking  hands  with  this 
new  enthusiasm  of  the  west,  which  was  then  build- 
ing a  new  college  in  Ohio,  to  be  open  to  men  and 
women  alike,  and  to  be  dedicated  wholly  to  Free- 
dom. 

He  soon  after  came  on  a  lecturing  tour  to 
Rochester,  and  there  unexpectedly  met  his  fate. 

The  Editor  of  the  Palladium  was  there  with 
three  of  his  children.  Katie  had  then  married 
Columbus  Davison,  a  young  lawyer  of  Rochester, 
who  happened  to  be  on  the  lecture  committee,  and 
he  arranged  the  interview,  at  which  the  great 
educator,  before  he  left  that  city,  signified  his  prob- 
able acceptance  of  the  presidency  of  Antioch 
College. 

And  those  boys,  Bill  and  Clay,  were  there,  and 
then  received  their  first  inspiration  towards  a 
college  education  from  that  great  orator  and 
philanthropist,  who  was  indeed  one  of  nature's 
noblemen. 

He  spoke  on  his  favorite  theme  of  the  infinite 
grandeur  of  the  Universe,  his  subject  having  been 
previously  announced  as  *'The  Universe  no  Desert 
and  the  Earth  no  Monopoly." 

A  famous  scientific  book  had  been  then  recently 
published  anonymously  in  Boston,  bearing  that 
title,  and  many  people  had  erroneously  attributed 
its  authorship  to  him,  and  he  was  still  bearing  the 
reputation  of  it,  as  his  earnest  disclaimer  of  its 
authorship  was  considered  only  as  modesty. 


ANTIOCH   COLLEGE.  67 

It  took  substantially  the  positions  he  had  advo- 
cated for  years,  and  involved  the  great  question  of 
universal  life  and  intelligence  in  all  the  visible  and 
invisible  universe. 

Were  other  worlds  than  ours,  and  other  suns  and 
systems  inhabited  by  intelligent  beings,  and  con- 
trolled by  similar  laws  and  conditions  as  ours  ? 

No  grander  theme  could  be  suggested,  and  none 
more  likely  to  rouse  and  interest  the  highest  intel- 
ligence or  to  kindle  the  rapt  enthusiasm  of  youth. 

The  orator  was  thoroughly  equipped  to  handle 
the  magnificent  subject,  by  familiarity  with  all  the 
astronomical  learning  then  known,  and  with  all 
attainable  knowledge  of  the  subject,  and  having 
entire  independence  and  freedom  of  thought  and 
discussion,  untrammeled  by  any  creeds  or  theories 
or  speculations. 

And  thousands  assembled  to  hear  the  great  ora- 
tor on  that  grandest  of  all  themes. 

He  was  then  passing  fifty  years  of  age,  with  a 
noble  form  and  presence  and  a  most  spiritual  and 
winning  countenance,  with  a  massive  brow  and 
brain  indicating  great  nervous  energy  and  power. 

His  lofty  form,  his  brown  hair  turning  gray,  his 
great  blue  eyes,  his  blond  and  almost  transparent 
beauty  of  complexion,  his  erect  carriage  and  pure 
voice,  of  unusual  sweetness,  gave  a  kind  and 
fatherly  dignity  of  appearance  and  expression  and 
instant  credence  for  sincerity  in  every  word  he  said. 


68  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

For  nearly  two  hours  he  held  that  great  audience 
in  rapt  attention. 

The  question  was  then  a  new  one,  at  least  in  that 
place,  and  never  had  an  orator  a  more  attentive 
and  appreciative  audience. 

His  great  argument  seemed  irresistible,  and 
when  he  made  the  comparisons  of  the  climates  of 
the  different  planets,  and  of  the  heat  and  the  light 
and  the  seasons,  and  of  the  results  shown  by  the 
spectrum  of  the  photographer,  in  aid  of  the  tele- 
scope and  the  microscope,  that  the  materials  of  all 
the  universe,  so  far  as  could  be  known,  were  the 
same  as  those  composing  the  sun  and  planets  of  our 
system,  there  seemed  to  be  a  reasonable  belief 
that  God's  children  were  not  limited  to  this  world. 
and  that  there  was  ample  ground  for  faith  in  all 
the  angels,  and  all  the  heavens,  and  all  the  hells, 
that  ever  had  been  dreamed  of  by  seers  or 
sages  or  poets  and  prophets  in  all  the  world's 
history. 

And  when  he  said  the  crust  of  this  earth  was  in 
comparison  to  its  size  only  about  that  of  an  egg- 
shell, over  its  central  fires  beneath,  and  that  the 
mouth  of  every  volcano  was  a  literal  opening  into 
endless  fire,  and  that  this  world  would  ultimately, 
after  millions  of  years,  be  extinguished  by  fire,  by 
being  drawn  back  into  the  sun  from  whence  it  had 
been  thrown  off  as  a  mere  spark,  there  seemed  to 
be  nothing  in  the  universe  but  Hell. 

And  as  this  earth  with  all  its  glories  was,  in  the 


ANTIOCH  COLLEGE.  0» 

great  comparison,  but  as  a  mere  speck  of  dust  re- 
vloving  round  a  mere  spark  of  fire,  like  a  mote 
floating  in  the  sunbeams  of  the  endless  ether, 
apparently  moved  and  balanced  by  the  great  laws 
of  matter,  with  gravitation,  heat  and  electricity,  as 
its  motor  powers  to  produce  the  centripetal  and 
centrifugal  forces,  the  bearing  of  those  facts  was 
necessarily  to  open  the  mind,  and  to  enlarge  all  re- 
ligious views  and  teachings  so  as  to  include  all  the 
children  of  the  universe  as  God's  children,  needing 
his  protection  and  parental  love  and  care  equally 
with  the  inhabitants  of  this  little  planet. 

The  inference  was  not  pressed,  but  very  evident, 
that  if  God  so  loved  this  world  as  to  give  his  only 
begotten  son  tor  our  salvation,  he  had  probably  in- 
cluded in  the  plan  all  his  intelligent  creatures  in  the 
rest  of  the  universe,  which  opened  a  most  be- 
wildering and  entrancing  field  of  thought  and  specu- 
lation. 

Those  boys  went  home  enthused  and  inspired, 
and  the  little  Deacon  then  thought  he  had  seen  the 
eagle  again. 

He  spent  the  next  Sunday  alone  in  his 
Cathedral  in  the  woods,  with  a  pallet  and  pencil 
in  dreamy  meditation  over  the  great  theme  which 
had  possessed  him  so  fully  that  he  produced  this 
poem  : 


70  BOEDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 


MYSTERY. 

Take  the  pinions  of  thought  and  away  to  the  sky 
Let  us  wing  a  wild  flight  where  the  fancy  may  fly. 
The  Moon  as  we  pass  it,  conceals  her  bright  locks, 
And  changes  from  silver  to  mountains  and  rocks  ; 
And  grows  dark  on  approach  like  a  Beauty  which  far 
In  the  sunlight  of  Love  glowed  as  bright  as  a  star. 
Like  the  pleasures  of  earth,  which  at  distance  appear 
Like  a  beacon  attractive,  but  ashes  when  near. 


And  the  wings  of  the  fancy  grow  tired  in  their  play 
As  there  bursts  the  new  splendor,  and  wakes  the  new  day 
For  still  on  the  azure  the  star  dust  is  strown 
Which  expands  on  approaching  to  worlds  like  our  own. 
What  power  controls  in  those  circles  of  light, 
What  beings  inhabit  those  provinces  bright  ? 
Does  sorrow  its  shadow  cast,  sin  leave  its  dross. 
Has  each  globe  its  Bible,  creation  its  Cross  ? 


Or  do  angels  of  light  wing  their  way  through  those  spheres 
Unshadowed  by  sorrows,  untutored  by  tears  ? 
'Oh,  is  it  a  problem  which  man  may  resolve 
"To  find  the  great  centre  round  which  all  revolve  ? 
Is  that  centre  the  Throne  where  Omnipotence  reigns, 
Surveying  in  grandeur  His  rolling  domains  ? 
We  ask,  but  alas  there  comes  back  from  the  sky 
But  the  echo  of  Mystery's  laugh  in  reply. 


ANTIOOH  COLLEGE.  71 

The  Theology  of  that  lecture  knew  no  Border 
Lands.  It  swept  the  universe  with  telescope  and 
microscope.  Human  creeds  or  theories  were  but  as 
spider's  webs  or  mere  motes  in  the  sunbeams,  com- 
pared with  the  electric  and  elastic  bands  which 
hold  those  millions  of  suns  in  place,  and  balance 
and  swing  the  universe  in  such  divine  harmony. 

It  left  no  doubt  or  question  of  the  existence  and 
omnipotence  of  God,  as  the  wildest  atheist  admits 
the  power  that  controls  the  universe,  but  only 
evades  the  name  of  God. 

But  call  it  any  name,  and  the  real  question  is 
whether  it  is  our  loving  Father  in  Heaven  as  Jesus 
called  it,  personal,  parental  and  beneficent,  listen- 
ing to  our  prayers,  or  whether  we  can  only  really 
know  the  laws  of  matter,  which  develop  those 
wonderful  phenomena. 

Human  love  is  certain  and  everywhere  abundant, 
even  extending  its  likeness  to  the  animal  and  floral 
kingdoms,  as  even  roses  fall  in  love,  and  all  animal 
and  vegetable  life  is  propagated  by  the  dual  rela- 
tion of  the  sexes. 

The  sterile  oak  cannot  produce  an  acorn,  nor  the 
luxuriant  vine  a  grape,  till  it  is  visited  by  the 
sacred  mystery  of  sex  in  the  Divine  Incarnation  of 
Life. 

Yet  the  Divine  Love  is  still  seen  by  many  only 
through  a  glass  darkly,  or  only  as  the  survival  of 
the  fittest,  which  in  a  moral  sense  is  usually  the 
unfittest,  as  it  seems  to  be  only  the  law  of  brute 


72  BOEDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

force  that  the  stronger  may  overcome  the  weaker, 
or  the  law  of  the  murderer  and  the  pirate. 

"  That  he  may  take  who  has  the  power, 
And  he  may  keep  who  can." 

That  Nature  is  really,  as  Ingersoll  has  called  it,  a 
Niagara  of  Blood,  where  life  feeds  on  life  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest  organizations  ;  and  that  con- 
science is  not  a  law  even  of  human  nature  or  of 
God  ;  as  there  is  no  God  in  the  parental  sense  of  a 
real  Father  in  Heaven. 

Yet  God  in  its  simplest  derivation  is  the  best  and 
natural  name  for  whatever  there  is  which  controls 
the  universe. 

The  first  intelligent  grunt  of  the  lowest  savage 
that  crawls  out  of  his  cave,  and  paws  the  hair  back 
out  of  his  eyes  to  see  and  feel  the  universe,  is 
"good,"  meaning  God. 

That  is  the  origin  of  the  word,  and  the  Diction- 
aries are  partly  in  fault  in  straining  after  some  far- 
fetched and  imaginary  derivation  of  it.  The  doc- 
trine of  Channing  seems  correct  that  God  should  be 
worshipped  as  Moral  Goodness. 

The  famous  book  which  was  the  subject  of  that 
lecture,  was  obtained  and  found  to  be  one  of  the 
series  of  the  great  debate,  in  answer  to  the  author 
of  **The  Plurality  of  Worlds,"  which  took  what 
was  then  considered  the  more  conservative,  and  or- 
thodox side  of  that  great  question ;  as  if  Truth 


ANTIOCH   COLLEGE.  78 

were  not  always  conservative,  and  always  truly 
radical. 

The  whole  community  read  it,  and  the  new  Presi- 
dent of  Antioch  College  secured  then  and  there 
his  first  recruit  for  that  new  Institution. 

Those  boys  had  already  passed  the  common 
schools,  and  had  then  been  two  years  in  the  Genesee 
Wesleyan  Seminary  at  Lima,  the  great  Methodist 
school  of  those  days,  which  then  had  over  a 
thousand  pupils,  within  four  miles  of  their  home 
on  the  Honeoye. 

They  walked  to  that  school  daily  in  fair  weather, 
both  ways,  across  lots  and  through  the  woods,  and 
used  their  saddle  horses  in  bad  weather,  whereby 
at  an  early  age  they  had  become  athletes  and 
hardy  fellows  and  famous  hunters  and  woodcraft 
men. 

So  heretical  was  that  new  book  then  considered, 
that  it  was  excluded  from  many  school  Libraries 
wherefore  the  little  Deacon  cut  out  from  it  and 
pasted  on  his  room  door  for  all  to  read  who  wished, 
page  218  as  follows  : 

**Ever  since  Astronomy  intimated  to  us  that  the 
stars  are  estates  like  our  own  world,  we  have  felt  a 
curiosity  about  them.  We  desire  to  know  whether 
any,  and  what  sort  of  persons  dwell  there  ;  and  if 
we  can  affirm  inhabitants  endowed  with  intelligence, 
the  faith  takes  a  heart  which  beats  with  a  natural 
throb  and  foretaste  of  acquaintanceship. 

**  Friendship  and  intercourse  with  the    starry 


74  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

people  are  a  want  with  every  faithful  child.  It  is 
the  same  in  principle  as  our  ardent  desire  for  a  re- 
union with  our  deceased  friends  and  absent  rela- 
tives. 

*'  God  gives  all  an  affectionate  curiosity,  ample 
to  infold  the  broad  area  of  Orion,  and  the  enormous 
dimensions  of  Sirius.  Swedenborg  experienced  this 
too  ;  for  he  knew  as  much  as  the  astronomers,  and 
was  moreover  rooted  in  the  belief  that  a  means  so 
immense  as  the  sun-strewn  firmament,  was  not  ex- 
clusively meant  for  the  little  mankind  and  the  little 
heaven  of  one  planet,  but  for  human  races  indefinite 
in  extent,  variety  and  function. 

**  Still  farther,  heaven  is  so  immense  as  to  require 
the  inhabitants  of  myriads  of  earths  to  constitute 
it.  Those  whom  our  own  globe  supplies,  nourish 
but  a  diminutive  patch  in  the  skin  of  universal 
humanity." 

The  selecting  of  that  great  educator  as  the 
President  of  Antioch  was  the  last  public  service 
rendered  by  the  Editor  of  the  Palladium. 

Like  C banning  he  was  suddenly  called  to  his 
heavenly  home  at  about  sixty  years  of  age, 
without  seeing  the  fruition  of  his  fondest  hopes 
at  Antioch. 

He  was  building  a  great  new  barn  in  the  height 
of  his  prosperity,  and  at  its  raising,  with  many  of 
his  neighbors  and  friends,  at  hand,  he  lifted  with 
them  a  heavy  beam,  when  instantly  that  sensitive 


ANTIOCH  COLLEGE.  75 

brain  was  overstrained  and  the  fatal  lesion  had 
come. 

He  had  filled  his  mission  to  the  middle  of  the 
19th  Century,  and  gone  to  his  reward. 

The  text  at  his  funeral  was  the  same  he  had 
used  at  his  grandfather's  funeral,  over  thirty  years 
before.  **  There  was  a  man  named  Joseph  and  he 
was  a  good  man  and  a  just." 

Eliza  was  now  left  alone  with  her  big  boys 
and  three  more  little  ones  coming  on,  when  un- 
expectedly Clay  came  to  her  in  the  evening  on  the 
front  porch,  where  she  had  sat  so  happy  after  the 
great  donation  party,  more  than  a  dozen  years 
before. 

She  was  now  utterly  desolate,  with  silver  threads 
in  her  hair,  and  her  great  dark  eyes  filled  with 
tears,  as  he  sat  on  the  arm  of  her  large  chair,  and 
put  his  arm  kindly  around  her  neck,  as  he  said, 

**  Mother,  do  you  know,  I  have  determined  to  be 
a  minister,  and  will  try  to  fill  my  father's  place  to 
you?" 

'*Have  you,  my  son?"  she  replied,  as  if  sur- 
prised at  the  sudden  announcement,  as  he  had  not 
been  much  to  church  except  at  his  Cathedral  in  the 
woods,  had  never  made  any  public  profession  of 
religion,  and  was  known  mainly  as  a  recluse  and  a 
hard  student  fitting  for  college. 

He  continued  sadly  and  doubtfully,  **But  you 
know,  mother,  I  have  never  been  converted  nor 
baptized,  nor  anything  I  " 


76  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

There  was  silence  for  a  long  time,  but  she  finally 
drew  down  his  head  and  kissed  him,  and  surprised 
him  in  turn,  as  she  said, 

**  Well,  my  son,  I  hope  you  never  will  be. 
People  naturally  good  as  you  are,  don't  need  to 
be  converted,  and  as  for  being  baptized,  it  is  only 
a  form,  and  I  have  seen  many  people  evading  their 
duties  by  such  pretensions. 

"And  all  that  stuffing  for  children  as  to  natural 
depravity  is  mere  rubbish.  Many  are  perverted 
and  bad  enough,  no  doubt,  but  the  natural  law  of 
Grod  and  nature  tends  to  goodness. 

**You  know,  my  son,  that  my  children  have 
never  needed  whipping,  and  can  you  suppose  that 
God  is  less  discerning  than  an  earthly  parent  I " 

The  boy  was  amazed,  and  knew  not  what  to 
say  further  to  comfort  her,  feeling  his  utter  un- 
worthiness,  but  finally  added  timidly, 

**  But  mother,  you  don't  know  the  worst  yet.  I 
don't  believe  anything  much,  at  least  not  much  of 
what  most  people  believe." 

She  instantly  rejoined,  **  All  the  better,  my  son  ; 
glad  you  don't.  What  you  do  believe  will  then 
be  sincere  and  real.  It  is  usually  the  meanest 
people  who  believe  the  most,  or  at  least  they 
pretend  to  by  having  the  longest  creeds.  Those 
long-creed  Christians  have  to  be  hypocrites  all  the 
time. 

**  Your  father  never  had  any  creed,  you  know  ?  " 

*'  Yes,"  he  replied,  *'  but  he  was  naturally  relig- 


ANTIOCH  COLLEGE.  77 

ions,  you  know,  while  I  am  independent,  foolishly 
so,  perhaps,  and  as  proud  as  the  devil  of  my  opin- 
ions, such  as  they  are. 

**  Why,  I  believe  the  invention  of  the  telescope 
has  made  the  orthodox  scheme  of  salvation  ridicu- 
lous I 

**  Well,  my  poor  boy,"  she  said  in  a  kinder  tone, 
'*  that's  pretty  bold  talk  for  a  boy  of  seventeen, 
but  that  old  creed  was  undoubtedly  invented'bef  ore 
the  telescope,  or  it  would  never  have  existed. 

*'  But  you  are  no  more  proud  than  you  should 
be.  Pride  and  Poverty  go  together,  and  it's  well 
they  do  as  they  comfort  each  other  so  much  ;  the 
poorer  people  would  all  be  sneaks  and  cowards  if 
it  were  otherwise." 

**  Your  father  was  proud,  and  I  am  so  glad  he 
was.  Why,  he  used  to  say,  '  Pride  is  a  hard  rock, 
Eliza,  a  hard  rock,  but  it's  full  of  gold,  and  God 
knows  how  to  grind  it  out.'  " 

It  became  again  very  still,  as  they  both  now 
thought  of  the  grand  strong  man  who  in  the  moment 
of  his  best  success,  and  without  the  fruition  of  his 
strongest  hopes,  had  been  so  swiftly  taken  away, 
leaving  the  widow  and  orphan  to  struggle  on 
alone. 

His  lofty  self-control  and  confidence,  his  patience 
and  submission,  his  unwavering  faith  in  the  Di- 
vine Wisdom  and  Goodness,  the  kind  purpose  be- 
hind it  all,  which  time  or  eternity  would  reveal. 


78  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

had  apparently  met  with  a  total  loss  of  all  which 
made  life  desirable. 

They  sat  long  in  silence,  before  he  asked,  inter- 
preting their  common  thought, 

'*  Is  there  any  justice  in  it,  mother  ?" 

**  No,  my  son,  no.  None  that  we  can  see  or  feel, 
but  there  is  such  a  thing  as  God's  grace,  which 
enables  us  to  submit  and  to  walk  by  Faith.  We  must 
walk  by  Faith.  You  will  know  more  of  this  some- 
time, as  you  grow  older  and  see  more  of  sorrow, 
something  of  the  wonderful  mystery  of  the  Grace 
of  God  in  Christ." 

He  knew  that  she  was  speaking  of  something 
which  she  understood,  though  her  words  had  now 
as  good  as  no  meaning  to  him.  He  remained  silent 
until  she  added, 

* '  I  hope.  Clay,  you  will  be  a  minister  of  Grace.  I 
hope  you  will  be  just  as  proud  as  you  are  now — 
until  God  makes  you  less  so.  And  I  hope  you  will 
never  sign  any  creed,  nor  try  to  believe  anything. 
Leave  all  that  to  God.  The  schools  make  men, 
but  God  makes  ministers.  Creed-signers  are  but 
rebels  who  are  insisting  that  men  must  walk  by 
sight.  Walk  by  Faith,  my  son,  all  your  life,  walk 
by  Faith,  looking  unto  Jesus  the  author  and  fin- 
isher of  our  faith.  The  Saviour  is  the  one  thing 
mortal  eyes  need  here  to  see." 

There  was  no  need  that  he  should  say  to  her  ''  I 
will  try."  She  knew  that  he  would.  She  spoke 
so  earnestly,  he  listened  so  intently,  and  her  words 


ANTIOCH  COLLEGE.  79 

had  such  a  background  of  experience  and  of  heart- 
searching  trial  so  well  known  to  them  both,  that 
they  sank  into  his  heart. 

What  a  power  there  was  in  that  Christian  hope  ! 
What  a  trust  it  brought  into  the  heart  which  but  for 
that  must  have  given  way  to  sorrow  and  despair  ! 
How  that  blessed  master's  hand  did  support  the 
soul ! 

What  an  interpretation  the  sorrow  of  the  crucified 
Saviour,  with  the  vision  of  his  subsequent  glory, 
gave  to  human  disappointments  and  humiliations  ! 

Such  thoughts  were  yet  new  to  this  young  man. 
His  religion  he  supposed  himself  to  have  learned, 
not  of  his  father  but  in  the  forest.  He  had  inherited 
an  exquisite  susceptibility,  but  he  had  also  received 
in  childhood,  even  before  he  was  born,  the  impress 
of  something  far  finer,  something  nature  never  knew 
till  Christ  Jesus  came  incarnating  a  Father's  re- 
deeming love.  This  the  young  man  by  no  means 
knew  as  yet ;  only  the  searching  trials  and  sorrows 
of  a  long  life  might  fully  reveal  it.  But  he  had 
learned  to-night  how  much  more  his  mother  knew 
of  it  than  he  did. 

He  saw  that,  besides  that  world  of  visible  nature 
whose  breath  was  so  sweet  and  so  soothing  to  him, 
there  was  another  world  which  his  inexperience  had 
not  yet  entered,  but  whose  paths  were  all  familiar 
to  his  father's  and  his  mother's  feet. 

As  he  walked  to  and  fro  mid  the  few  flowers  now 


80  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

bordering  that  path  in  early  autumn,  the  moon 
shone  serene  above  the  rippling  Honeoye,  and  the 
peace  that  Thoreau  found  in  Walden  woods,  the 
faith  that  Emerson  diffuses  with  sweet  persuasion 
through  essay  and  song,  filled  his  spirit  with  what 
would  have  been  a  tranquil  and  a  perfect  content, 
but  for  these  glimpses  of  that  mysterious  universe, 
invisible,  which  he  was  yet  to  enter. 

What  did  she  mean  by  his  being  a  minister  of 
Grace  ?  It  moved  him  profoundly  to  have  her  so 
speak  of  it,  and  he  was  evidently  unprepared  for 
any  such  ministry. 

It  filled  him  with  something  like  a  superstitious 
awe  to  have  his  mother  with  her  strong  will  and 
her  severe  common  sense,  speak  so  familiarly  of 
spiritual  realities,  so  wholly  unknown  to  him. 

His  small  perplexities  as  to  his  being  converted 
and  being  a  church -member  she  had  swept  away 
like  cobwebs  ;  but  she  had  roused  his  mind  to  other 
things  as  no  mountain  bird  or  Niagara  torrent  ever 
did. 

She  said  no  more,  but  all  joined  now  in  the  hasty 
preparations  for  his  departure  to  Antioch  college, 
where  other  scenes  soon  absorbed  his  eager  spirit. 

The  famous  old  song  of  Bill  and  Joe  was  realized 
again,  when  these  boys  were  now  for  the  first  time 
in  their  lives  to  be  separated,  and  neither  of  them 
liked  it. 

They  had  been  inseparable  from  childhood,  al- 
ways sleeping  together  in  the  same  crib  and  cradle, 


ANTIOOH  COLLEGE.  81 

and  often  alone  in  the  woods,  and  they  knew  no 
separate  interests. 

But  Bill  had  seen  no  sense  in  that  eagle  story, 
and  often  insisted  that  it  was  only  the  imagination 
of  that  little  cuss  the  Deacon,  and  he  finally  went 
after  that  big  bird  with  a  double-barrelled  gun. 

He  did  not  find  him,  however,  but  on  returning 
from  a  weary  tramp  at  evening,  he  crossed  the 
bridge  in  the  village  below  the  falls,  and  away  in 
the  gloaming  over  his  head  he  saw  the  great  wings 
flapping,  scarcely  visible,  of  a  great  bird  slowly 
fanning  its  way  up  the  stream. 

He  well  knew  that  an  eagle  did  not  fly  so  leis- 
urely as  that,  but  raising  his  gun  and  waiting  for 
the  flank  shot  as  it  passed,  he  blazed  away  with 
both  barrels  at  long  range,  and  down  came  the 
great  bird  in  a  tumble,  but  still  flapping  its  great 
wings  violently,  and  screaming,  quack,  quack, 
quack,  as  it  fell  directly  on  top  of  Mary  Spellisy, 
an  old  Irish  woman  who  was  gathering  drift-wood 
by  the  stream. 

Mary  ran  up  the  bank,  shouting,  *'Holy  Vargin 
save  us!"  and  ran  plump  against  Bill  rushing 
down  with  his  gun,  and  as  she  had  seen  neither 
hunter  nor  bird,  she  was  knocked  over  and  rolled 
insensible  down  the  bank,  and  declared  ever  after 
that  she  had  received  a  visitation  of  the  devil,  from 
whom  only  her  hasty  appeal  to  the  Virgin  had 
saved  her. 

The  bird  was  the  great  blue  heron,  standing  six 


82  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

feet  liigh  when  it  raised  its  long  neck,  and  spread- 
ing its  wings  the  same  distance,  and  it  is  consid- 
ered the  most  spiritual  of  birds  as  it  has  almost  no 
body,  but  is  all  legs,  neck  and  wings,  like  an  at- 
tenuated saint. 

Those  wings  graced  the  family  mantel,  to  obscure 
the  eagle  story,  and  many  a  confab  those  boys  had 
about  all  the  eagles  having  gone  west. 

Bill  opposed  the  western  college  and  had  the  am- 
bition to  bear  his  grandfather's  name  back  to  Har- 
vard, where  it  had  been  honored  before,  and 
finally  decided  he  would  go  there  and  study  law. 

On  finding  Clay  determined  on  the  Ministry, 
though  he  had  as  yet  made  no  profession  of  re- 
ligion, lie  finally  said  : 

'*  Well,  Deacon,  you  know,  we  haven't  got  piety 
enough  in  us  two  for  more  than  one,  so  you  take 
what  little  of  it  I've  got,  and  you  preach,  and  I'll 
practice,  and  we'll  see  which  gets  to  Heaven  first." 

**  All  right,  old  Put,"  he  replied,  **if  you  only 
practice  what  I  preach,  you'll  be  safe  enough," 
and  he  then  pulled  out  and  read  his  last  composi- 
tion written  for  the  Genesee  Lyceum  at  Lima,  con- 
taining this  invocation : 

Columbia,  shall  it  be  when  thou  art  dead, — 

Forgive  the  thought  that  thou  shalt  ever  die, — 
No  deeds  of  thine  are  worthy  to  be  read, 

And  none  of  thine  the  boast  of  minstrelsy  ? 
God  grant  thee  men,  too  worthy  to  be  sold 
By  love  of  office  or  by  greed  of  gold. 


ANTIOOH   COLLEGE.  83 

Great  men  whom  Satan  cannot  bribe  nor  buy, 
Who  dare  to  speak  and  yet  dare  not  to  lie  ; 
Men,  whom  the  heavenly  inspirations  teach 
To  preach  the  truth,  and  practice  what  they  preach 
Then  o'er  the  world  shall  flow  thy  honest  fame 
And  tyrants  still  shall  tremble  at  thy  name. 


84  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

COLLEGE  LIFE  IN  BORDER  LANDS. 

It  was  indeed  a  new  world  that  opened  to  the 
great  educator  as  Western  college  life  unfolded  it- 
self to  his  interested  eyes.  There  are  no  mountains 
in  Ohio,  but  a  high  table-land  along  the  river  sur- 
rounds the  famous  Yellow  Springs,  about  halfway 
between  Columbus  and  Cincinnati,  and  forests 
bound  the  prospect  on  every  side,  giving  a  soothing 
air  of  peace  and  rest.  But  in  the  school  itself  beat 
an  eager  moral  life,  unknown  to  older  institutions, 
while  large  plans  and  bold  projects  revealed  the 
vigorously  budding  life  of  a  new  people. 

Very  few  of  these  young  men  and  women  had  any 
scholarly  fitness  for  entering  college,  but  they 
pressed  here  to  the  preparatory  school  as  the  most 
important  part  of  an  opening  Western  college. 
Above  a  thousand  eager  pupils  might  have  been 
gathered  the  first  year,  had  there  been  room  to  be- 
stow them. 

And  what  material  it  was,  which  in  the  prepara- 
tory school  confronted  the  educator  as  he  entered 
on  his  bold  enterprise  and  took  up  the  burdens  of 
his  enormous  task. 

To  a  New  England  college  come  as  freshmen  the 
delicate  children  whose  lives  have  been  passed  in 


COLLEGE  LIFE  IN  BOEDER  LAND8.  85 

elegant  homes,  or  overlooked  in  quiet  and  discreet 
schools,  but  here  were  young  men  and  women  no 
longer  children,  all  whose  childhood  had  been 
passed  out  of  doors,  on  the  farm,  in  the  forest, 
amidst  the  cattle,  handling  the  plough,  the  axe  and 
the  rifle. 

Educated  they  already  were — far  better  than  any 
New  England  college  boys,  in  the  development  and 
discipline  of  their  senses,  their  powers  of  observa- 
tion, perception,  and  in  their  conscience  and  relig- 
ious sentiments,  but  little  they  knew  of  books,  less 
of  art,  and  they  had  an  alert  quickness  of  appre- 
hension, and  an  exceeding  warmth  and  depth  and 
susceptibility  of  affections. 

They  were  princes  of  the  people,  lords  of  the  soil, 
whose  axes  had  hewn  away  the  forests,  reared  their 
cabins,  and  raised  the  golden  corn  such  as  New 
England  eyes  had  never  seen. 

Those  forests  of  corn  might  here  be  seen  a  thou- 
sand acres  in  a  field  ;  and  so  luxuriant  of  growth 
that  a  horseman  might  ride  through  it,  and  horse 
and  rider  soon  be  wholly  lost  to  view,  while  so  lofty 
were  the  stalks  that  the  tallest  man  could  not  reach 
so  high  as  to  hang  his  hat  upon  the  ear. 

And  the  men  were  as  stalwart  as  the  corn,  their 
pride  was  lofty,  their  self-respect  was  grand,  and 
they  felt  it  was  a  fit  recognition  of  their  noble  free- 
dom and  worth  when  America's  greatest  educator 
left  the  halls  of  Congress  to  come  and  share  their 
new  hopes  and  prospects. 


86  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

The  walls  of  the  new  college  rose  swiftly  to  the 
music  of  a  thousand  hammers  busy  in  rearing  cot- 
tages on  every  side.  Here  and  there  were  scattered 
the  great  canvas -covered  wagons  which  had  come 
from  remote  farms,  and  wherein  the  family  now 
lived,  while  the  sturdy  sons  toiled  at  building  the 
little  house  where  they  and  their  sisters  should  live 
to  gain  the  great  blessing  of  education. 

They  slept  first  in  these  covered  Tabernacles  on 
wheels,  and  cooked  in  the  open  air,  and  among  the 
first  buildings  completed  was  the  Christian  Church 
in  Grove  Street,  which  the  educator  at  once  joined. 

After  a  year  of  this  labor,  the  great  college  chapel 
was  so  nearly  completed  that  the  tribes  of  the  faith- 
ful could  go  up  thither  and  greet  that  honored  man 
as  he  rose  to  give  his  inaugural  address. 

Face  to  face  on  this  border  land  now  stood  the 
two  principles  on  the  play  of  which  the  interest  of 
this  story  turns.  Intellect  and  conscience  stood  up 
to  speak  that  noble  inaugural  address  before  the 
newest  creations  of  that  creative  passion  which 
keeps  intellect  and  conscience  alive. 

The  educator  was  a  typical  New  England  man, 
high,  pure,  ardently  devoted  to  his  principles,  and 
confident  of  the  nobleness  of  his  purposes. 

He  did  not  consider  the  mere  imparting  of  knowl- 
edge to  be  education  or  in  itself  a  saving  force  for 
society,  but  the  training  of  the  conscience,  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  will,  were  to  him  far  more  precious 
factors,   and    he  willingly  fled    away  from  New 


COLLEGE  LIFE  IN  BORDER  LANDS.  87 

England  to  try  in  the  wilderness  what  was  to  him  a 
great  experiment, — the  starting  of  college  life  anew 
without  the  inherited  vice  which  taints  New  England 
college  blood. 

He  had  there  seen  the  vicious  consequences  of 
letting  college  traditions  of  European  customs  es- 
sentially unclean,  take  hold  of  American  life  to 
perpetuate  those  customs  as  something  sacred  and 
valuable. 

He  had  seen  the  frequent  betrayal  of  the  sweet 
trust  of  New  England's  mothers  who  gave  their 
pure  boys  into  the  keeping  of  the  college,  heedless 
of  the  fact  that  the  college  itself  would  be  their  ed- 
ucation in  vice,  would  hold  a  wine-cup  to  their  lips, 
and  while  woman  as  motherhood  and  sisterhood 
would  be  excluded,  the  wanton  might  find  protection 
very  near  the  college. 

He  had  seen  the  purity  of  childhood  under  that 
system  at  once  beginning  morally  to  decline,  rising 
in  knowledge,  in  mental  power,  even  in  health  and 
physical  strength,  but  steadily  sinking  in  average 
purity  and  truth,  with  faces  marked  each  year  more 
and  more  by  vice,  until  more  than  half  the  men  of 
the  average  class  found  the  four  years  of  college 
life  a  steady  degradation.  To  this  college  woman 
should  come  not  so  much  to  win  her  rights,  as  to 
bring  the  saving  power  of  her  presence 

The  educator,  however,  stood  up  to  face  his  new 
experiment  in  an  hour  when  great  events  and 
mighty  forces  rose  up  beside  him.    But  a  few  miles 


88  BOEDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

away  across  the  Ohio  river,  it  was  still  a  crime  to 
teach  a  colored  child  to  read. 

The  tremendous  moral  conflict  which  made  Amer- 
ica willing  to  wash  away  the  awful  stain  of  slavery, 
even  in  blood,  was  educating  men  for  heroic  deeds. 

From  1860  to  1860,  this  land  was  kneeling  in 
Gethsemane  and  preparing  to  taste  the  bitter  cup 
that  might  not  pass  away.  The  educator  was 
worthy  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  such  great 
events. 

The  exacting  severity  of  his  moral  demands,  made 
him  seem,  as  he  stood  before  his  pupils,  something 
like  the  incarnate  justice  of  God.  He  soon  became 
an  idol  that  encouraged  hope  and  spoke  to  the 
imagination,  and  so,  long  after  he  was  gone,  he 
shaped  the  lives  of  thousands  of  children  whose 
parents  sat  here  in  childhood  at  his  feet. 

That  inaugural  address  and  many  others  of  his, 
are  kept  as  classics  in  thousands  of  happy  homes. 

Clearly  foreseeing  our  national  struggle  for  life 
soon  to  follow,  it  first  dealt  with  national  sins  in 
this  vigorous  way  ;  illustrating  with  stubborn 
facts : 

**  There  is  unimaginable  suffering  when  a  nation 
turns  oppressor  and  invents  and  plies  the  enginery 
of  wrong." 

"For  magnitude  of  crime,  for  tenacious  vitality 
of  wrong,  there  are  no  crimes  like  national  crimes. 
Individuals  can  debase  individuals,  bad  govern- 
ment can  brutalize  a  race." 


COLLEGE  LIFE  IN  BOEDER  LANDS.  89 

•*  A  wicked  government  makes  agony  epidemic. 
It  strikes  a  blow  that  stuns  humanity  for  ages." 

**  Napoleon  shortened  the  average  stature  of 
Frenchmen  two  inches,  by  selecting  all  the  taller 
of  his  thirty  millions  of  subjects,  and  killing  them 
in  war." 

**  The  British  Government  lowered  the  forehead 
of  the  Irish  Catholic  peasantry  two  inches  by  mak- 
ing it  an  offence,  punishable  with  imprisonment 
and  a  traitor's  ignominious  death,  to  be  the  teacher 
of  children  In  school,  and  by  the  cruel  adminis- 
tration of  her  cruel  laws,  she  transposed  their 
brains  from  the  intellectual  forehead  to  the  animal 
hindhead." 

He  then  answered  the  Millerites,  who  were  still 
daily  expecting  the  end  of  the  world,  or  pretending 
to, — not  by  wrangling  with  them  over  scripture 
texts,  which  like  the  slaveholders  they  were  adepts 
at,  but  by  pointing  to  the  telescope  and  saying : 

'*  Our  whole  solar  system  is  sweeping  through  an 
immense  orbit  around  some  other  centre,  along  a 
circumference  so  inconceivably  vast,  that  during 
the  six  thousand  years  since  the  creation  of  Adam, 
the  solar  group  has  passed  through  about  one  de- 
gree of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty  degrees  that 
make  but  one  of  its  mighty  circuits.  That  is,  it 
has  performed  since  the  creation  of  the  human 
race,  about  one  three  hundred  and  sixtieth  part  of 
a  single  revolution." 

**  Now,  when  did  even  an  earthly  mechanic  ever 


90  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

allow  a  wheel  which  he  had  constructed  to  make 
but  one  three  hundred  and  sixtieth  part  of  its  lirst 
revolution,  and  then  stop  it  forever  f '' 

**  No  part  of  the  natural  world  grows  old.  The 
sun  is  not  shorn  of  its  brightness.  The  lightning 
lags  not  with  decrepitude.     To  the  oceans  we  say, 

'  Time  writes  no  wrinkle  on  thy  azure  brow.' 

The  briny  flood  distils  as  fresh  water  as  ever, — as 
it  rises  on  the  wings  of  evaporation,  sustains  all 
life,  and  returns  again  to  the  ocean.  How  emblem- 
atic of  its  Maker's  love  ! " 

Then  coming  to  individual  character,  he  said  : 

''  Clergymen  are  exhorting  us  to  keep  our  spirits 
clean  and  pure,  and  then  exemplifying  their  teach- 
ing by  all  the  defilements  of  tobacco.  From  such 
causes  has  come  our  present  diluted  and  depleted 
humanity,  wasted  and  short-lived,  with  its  manli- 
ness evaporated  and  its  native  fires  quenched." 

'*  But  we  here  tread  a  new  earth,  whose  ribs  are 
covered  ten  feet  thick  with  alluvial  fat,  from  which 
to  rear  new  men  for  the  new  blessings.  Chemistry 
will  yet  beautify  the  earth  as  much  as  Astronomy 
has  glorified  the  heavens,  and  the  greatest  need  is 
honest  manhood." 

That  was  the  spirit  of  this  new  Plato  of  the  West, 
and  those  wild  woods  became  the  fitting  home  of  his 
new  Academy. 

The  grand  buildings  rose  amidst  a  noble  lawn  of 
forest  trees,  which  opened  on  the  eastward  into 


COLLEGE  LIFE  IN  BORDER   LANDS.  91 

the  famous  Glen  of  the  Yellow  Springs,  where  were 
the  fountains  and  a  purling  stream  running  into 
pools  and  cascades  for  miles  away  among  the  noble 
trees. 

The  entrance  to  that  Glen  had  Whittier's  beauti- 
ful hymn  as  its  inscription  : 

The  harp  at  Nature's  advent  strung 

Has  never  ceased  to  play  ; 
The  Song  the  Stars  of  morning  sung 

Has  never  died  away. 

The  green  Earth  sends  her  incense  up 
From  many  a  mountain  shrine, 

From  folded  leaf  and  dewy  cup 
She  pours  her  sacred  wine. 

So  Nature  keeps  the  reverent  frame 

With  which  her  years  began  ; 
And  all  her  signs  and  voices  shame 

The  prayerless  heart  of  man. 

How  different  the  scene  from  that  ancient  city  of 
Antioch  on  the  Orontes  where  Paul  and  Barnabas 
passed  the  first  year  of  their  ministry,  and  where 
Paul  first  preached  to  the  Gentiles,  and  came  near 
being  stoned  to  death  for  it,  for  heresy,  on  his  return 
to  Jerusalem. 

The  High  Priests  of  Orthodoxy  had  driven  the 
disciples,  then  called  Nazarenes  and  Galileans,  out 
of  Jerusalem,  and  far  to  the  northwest  in  that  border 


92  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

land  of  Syria  they  had  sent  Barnabas  to  found  that 
first  Christian  Church. 

Antioch,  named  from  Antiochus,  a  famous  teacher 
and  philosopher,  was  then  the  largest  city  in  the 
world,  and  only  second  to  Rome  and  Alexandria  in 
importance,  but  had  only  the  Pagan  religion  of  the 
worship  of  Idols. 

Its  famous  grove  of  Daphne  extending  many 
miles  southwest  of  the  City  was  full  of  fountains 
and  shrines,  with  fine  statues  of  the  many  Deities 
presented  by  many  visiting  kings  and  named  after, 
them. 

Its  approach  was  through  stately  avenues  of  noble 
trees,  cooled  by  the  spray  of  fountains  and  water- 
falls, and  it  was  considered  the  greatest  pleasure 
resort  of  voluptuaries,  and  the  home  of  the  Nymphs 
and  the  Dryads,  the  spirits  of  the  waters  and  the 
woods. 

It  was  given  over  to  the  wildest  revels  of  Bacchus 
and  Venus  and  Apollo ;  but  Diana  and  Daphne 
were  also  there,  in  the  undraped  purity  of  nature, 
and  the  legend  of  their  shrines  was  peace  and  rest 
without  fear,  and  love  without  law,  but  the  tears 
of  Daphne  would  flow  at  the  breaking  of  a  bud 
from  her  laurel  boughs. 

And  the  saying  was,  '*  Better  be  a  worm  and  feed 
on  the  mulberries  of  Daphne,  than  be  a  king's 
guest." 

But  here  at  last  in  the  new  world,  were  the  new 
shrines  of  Daphne  and  Apollo,  with  Diana  and 


COLLEGE  LIFE  IN  BORDER  LANDS.  93 

Minerva  as  the  controlling  Divinities,  and  the  un- 
known God  whom  Paul  proclaimed,  now  recognized 
and  ruling  over  all. 

Hither  came  many  noble  and  gifted  young  women 
from  New  England  and  everywhere,  led  by  the 
fame  of  the  great  educator  to  worship  at  these  new 
shrines,  and  well  worthy  were  they  of  the  best  and 
choicest  blessings  nature  could  produce. 

Hither  came  also  into  this  intensity  of  new  life 
and  beauty,  the  young  Neophyte  of  the  Honeoye, 
feeling  very  grand,  but  utterly  bewildered  at  the 
wilderness  of  new  attractions. 

He  had  written  to  a  few  friends  of  the  time  he 
should  arrive,  and  so  went  in  haste  to  get  their  re- 
plies to  the  little  post  office  on  the  morning  after  he 
came,  and  there  met  his  first  surprise* 

As  he  entered  by  one  door,  there  stepped  in  at 
the  other  door  just  before  him,  a  young  girl  of  six- 
teen, of  such  noble  presence,  with  such  purity  and 
delicacy  of  expression,  that  his  heart  leaped  into 
his  mouth,  as  he  mentally  exclaimed,   ''  Priscilla.' 

She  reached  the  window  before  him,  and  asked 
for  her  letters  in  so  gentle  a  tone  that  he  could  not 
hear  her  name. 

He  had  never  seen  so  lovely  a  vision.  He  gazed 
intently  upon  her,  and  instinctively  followed  her 
at  a  distance  as  she  walked  toward  the  college 
across  the  great  park  of  noble  oaks. 

He  felt  perfectly  sure  she  was  the  one  woman 


94  BORDEK  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

Heaven  meant  that  he  should  meet.  Soon  he 
asked  of  a  friend, 

**  What  of  Miss  Helen  Marvin  you  spoke  of. 
Her  name  is  very  pretty  ;  is  she  like  it  1 " 

"  Returned  to  Boston,"  was  the  reply  ;  '*  Not  to 
be  here  any  more  ;  think  she  failed  to  pass." 

*' Who  then,"  he  asked,  ''is  this  New  England 
girl  I  have  just  seen  this  morning  ?" 

**  Ah,  Miss  Eliot,  another  Boston  girl.  Look  out 
for  yourself  ;  she  passes  everything  I "  was  the 
sportive  rejoinder,  such  as  college  boys  make. 

The  next  day,  on  appearing  for  examination,  he 
was  more  surprised  to  learn  that  Miss  Eliot  and 
himself  were  the  only  new  comers  able  to  join  the 
advanced  class,  now  entering  upon  the  second  or 
Sophomore  year. 

But  both  of  these  applicants  were  amazed  as  well 
as  amused,  when  the  Professor  conducting  the  ex- 
amination in  Mathematics  examined  them  together, 
and  not  only  seated  them  at  one  tahle,  but  gave 
them  the  same  problems  to  solve  and  then  quietly 
departed  leaving  them  alone  for  two  hours  to  them- 
selves, and  securing  them  from  intrusion  by  coolly 
locking  the  door  as  he  vanished. 

This  was  life  in  Border  Lands,  indeed. 

Not  a  word  had  been  exchanged  between  them  as 
they  were  barely  introduced  by  name,  and  for  two 
hours  they  wrote  answers  to  those  problems  in 
silence,  under  the  rule  that  they  were  not  to  seek 
assistance  from  any  source. 


COLLEGE  LIFE  IN  BORDER  LANDS.       96 

Finally  he  had  to  ask  to  use  the  inkstand  of  his  fel- 
low sufferer  ;  and  a  pleasant  smile  was  exchanged 
and  each  observed  that  they  had  made  the  same 
progress,  and  that  both  were  now  '* stuck"  on 
the  same  final  geometrical  problem. 

The  diagrams  they  were  both  then  drawing  made 
that  revelation,  and  led  to  a  little  mutual  confes- 
sion, showing  that  neither  needed  any  assistance. 

This  experience  was  a  revelation  to  both  of  them, 
of  the  fact  that  they  had  indeed  entered  a  new 
world,  in  going  from  New  England  to  this  new 
Border  Land,  where  they  were  thus  welcomed  at 
the  outset  with  no  severity  of  scrutiny,  but  with  a 
spirit  of  perfect  confidence  and  trust. 

Such  was  the  foundation  stone  of  the  new  school. 
Miss  Eliot  had  left  her  far-away  home  to  find  here 
a  college  training  not  then  to  be  had  by  a  woman  in 
any  school  in  New  England,  and  to  draw  near  as 
well  to  that  spirit  of  freedom  and  of  trustful  faith 
now  incarnated  in  the  great  educator,  who  had 
come  here  to  make  a  bold  experiment  in  the  wil- 
derness. 

Women  were  to  have  here  precisely  the  same 
privileges  and  opportunities  given  to  men.  College 
vices  were  here  to  be  wholly  left  behind  as  things 
pertaining  to  a  semi-barbarous  civilization.  Creeds 
there  were  none  to  recite  or  to  sign  ;  and  it  seemed 
as  though  the  new  college  students  were  listening 
anew  with  a  child's  fresh  interest  to  him  who  said, 
**  Behold  I  make  all  things  new." 


96  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

A  few  teachers  and  newly  appointed  professors 
had  come  with  the  educator,  and  had  brought  with 
them  something  of  the  Massachusetts  atmosphere  ; 
but  these  dense  forests  now  every  where  shutting  off 
the  view,  and  this  warm,  soft,  too  soothing  air, 
seemed  like  the  men  and  women  of  the  Ohio  val- 
ley, as  compared  with  those  in  Massachusetts. 

They  were  people  such  as  Miss  Eliot  had  never 
seen,  and  she  gazed  on  them  with  lively  interest ; 
almost  with  an  amused  curiosity,  but  it  gradually 
dawned  upon  her  that  she  was  quite  as  curious  and 
as  interesting  an  object  to  them.  She  was  the  true 
type  of  the  Puritan  maiden,  so  clean,  so  calm,  so 
bright ;  yet  also  so  gentle,  so  reserved,  so  delicately 
modest,  that  these  vigorous  sons  and  daughters 
from  Ohio  farms  looked  on  her  as  some  saintly 
character  from  a  novel. 

Catharine  Eliot,  now  nearing  seventeen  years,  of 
a  commanding  figure,  tall  and  graceful,  and  mov- 
ing ever  with  a  quiet  confidence  that  seemed  al- 
ways to  know  the  end  and  the  way,  was  one  on 
whom  no  young  man  could  look  with  indifference, 
or  without  saying  in  his  heart  ^^incedit  Regina?'* 

The  perfect  modesty  and  composure  of  woman- 
hood now  crowned  the  grace  and  charm  of  maiden- 
hood. The  brown  curls  fell  about  her  face,  and 
seemed  to  frame  a  living  picture,  wonderfully 
lighted  up  by  her  large  blue  eyes. 

Her  transparent  face  seemed  illuminated  from 
within  by  sincerity  and  truth,  and  the  glow  of  a 


COLLEaE  LIFE  IN  BOEDER  LANDS.  97 

spirit  that  had  nothing  to  conceal  except  a  heart  of 
such  delicate  instincts  and  susceptibilities  that  it 
seemed  like  a  half -open  rose  visited  as  yet  by  noth- 
ing ruder  than  the  dew. 

She  already  had  a  scholarly  training  and  attain- 
ments such  as  few  women  ever  possess,  and  with  it 
an  ease  of  manner  and  a  familiarity  with  all  social 
customs  of  the  best  society. 

Her  very  handwriting,  so  swift,  so  accurate,  so 
confident  seemed  to  indicate  a  clean  cut  character 
and  intellect ;  something  unique  and  wholly  unlike 
anything  often  seen. 

She  naturally  at  once,  and  more  and  more  as  the 
days  went  by,  awakened  an  interest  in  the  whole 
school,  which  soon  recognized  her  as  its  leading 
lady  and  scholar. 

In  languages,  ancient  and  modern,  she  quite  ex- 
celled the  young  Neophyte,  and  left  him  far  behind 
in  her  knowlege  of  all  literatures  and  of  works  of 
art,  and  made  him  feel  ashamed  whenever  they  re- 
cited together  in  Greek,  for  he  could  no  more  learn 
to  excel  in  Greek  than  an  eagle  could  dig  clams. 

Her  presence  became  to  him  at  once  a  provocation 
and  an  inspiration,  while  he  was  to  her  only  one  of 
fifty  classmates  whom  she  met  in  daily  competition 
in  the  class-room.  A  queer  creature  she  called  him 
afterwards  in  writing  to  her  friends  at  home,  with 
a  big  head  and  a  shy  reserved  manner,  as  melan- 
choly as  Nathaniel  Hawthorne.   Such  he  seemed  to 


98  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

many  at  that  time,  with  his  quiet  ways  and  his  in- 
scrutable face. 

His  hazel  eyes  seemed  at  times  restless  and  flit- 
ting, but  they  always  gazed  at  her  steadily  and 
quietly  as  though  reading  every  secret  of  her  face, 
which  was  frank,  open  and  curiously  susceptible 
and  responsive,  yet  changing  with  every  movement 
in  a  way  that  puzzled  him,  while  her  clear,  calm 
eyes  seemed  to  have  an  invisible  vail  which  stopped 
all  intrusion. 

Sympathetic  they  were,  swift  to  respond,  light- 
ning-like in  their  flash  of  recognition  and  introspec- 
tion, but  there  was  a  shrine  and  a  shadow  within, 
**like  the  dusk  in  evening  skies." 

She  came  later  into  college  commons  and  he 
seemed  to  have  at  last  all  that  heart  could  ask, 
when  he  found  himself  and  his  chum  presently 
seated  at  the  same  table  with  Catharine  Eliot  and 
her  smart  set.  His  chum  was  Cyrus  Christie,  from 
the  Adirondack  region  of  New  York,  a  gifted  fel- 
low, and  Professor  Primrose,  who  presided  at  their 
table  asked  one  day,  when  Cyrus  came  in  first, 
what  made  his  new  chum  so  shy,  and  why  he 
didnH  talk. 

"Oh, "  Cyrus  said,  "  he  can  talk  like  Daniel 
Webster,  but  you  can't  make  him  talk  till  he  wants 
to." 

Miss  Eliot  eagerly  listened  next  day  when  in 
their  Friday  afternoon  debating  society,  this  silent 


COLLEGE  LIFE    IN  BORDER  LANDS.  99 

classmate  stood  up  in  his  place  and  quietly  read  an 
essay  on  Emerson. 

She  tried  to  get  near  him  to  say  that  it  was  ex- 
cellent, and  to  tell  him  that  she  knew  Emerson 
well,  having  attended  his  church  in  Boston  from 
her  childhood,  and  how  delighted  she  was  to  find 
him  so  well  understood  and  appreciated  by  one 
who  had  only  known  him  in  his  books. 

But  she  was  surprised  to  see  Christie  rush  at  him 
and  throw  his  arms  about  his  neck  and  kiss  him  in 
his  enthusiasm  over  the  essay,  as  the  two  friends 
moved  away  together,  deeply  interested  in  their 
own  conversation  and  taking  no  notice  of  any  body 
else. 

Christie  was  an  old  friend  and  already  a  member 
of  the  little  church  in  Grove  Street,  and  had  been 
earnestly  hoping  to  induce  his  chum  to  join  it. 
They  were  now  always  together,  creatures  of  the 
forest  alike,  knowing  all  manner  of  woodcraft,  and 
never  so  happy  as  when  alone  together  in  the 
woods  and  talking  over  those  sacred  things. 

That  paper  on  Emerson  began  between  them  a 
more  intimate  friendship  than  most  men  ever 
know. 

His  admiration  for  Miss  Eliot  he  would  by  no 
means  allow  her  to  suspect.  He  buried  it  deep  in 
his  heart,  while  his  kindly  and  always  respectful 
look  seemed  ever  to  welcome  her. 

Others  did  not  seem  so  indifferent.  There  was 
nothing  in  her  to  provoke  the  jealousy  of  women, 


100  BOEDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

as  she  was  free  from  all  assumption  of  superiority. 

He  was  silent  because  he  had  to  retreat  to  the 
glen,  where  alone  he  breathed  again  the  breath  of 
the  primal  forest. 

Rocks  of  picturesque  beauty  there  framed  the 
gorge,  their  own  dark  faces  illuminated  in  summer 
with  crimson  columbines. 

The  triliums  come  earlier,  starring  the  ground 
with  their  chaste  white  trefoil,  and  when  the  deli- 
cate May-flower  bloomed  in  New  England,  there 
burst  through  the  brown  leaves  here  the  almost 
equal  beauty  of  the  sweet  hepatica. 

To  avoid  flirtation  a  simple  regulation  secured 
this  charming  retreat  to  solitude  and  mediation,  by 
admitting  ladies  and  gentlemen  on  alternate  days  ; 
and  here  he  could  fling  himself  down  to  dream  and 
to  recall  the  communions  of  his  childhood,  while  the 
vision  of  Catharine  and  all  the  questions  and  long- 
ings she  waked  in  him  could  not  wholly  arrest  his 
dreaming  eyes. 

Cyrus  and  Clay  were  now  constantly  together,  and 
many  wondered  how  two  silent  men  so  unlike  could 
find  so  much  satisfaction  in  each  other. 

Prof.  Primrose  said,  *'  Christie,  you  seem  to  have 
found  his  heart.  What's  in  it  ?  He  hardly  speaks 
to  anybody  else." 

*'He  seems  to  me  very  accessible,"  said  Christie, 
**  but  we'll  bring  him  out  soon." 

It  came  out  in  this  way  :  They  were  sitting  in  the 
college  library  one  Sunday  at  twilight,  when  Christie 


COLLEGE  LIFE   IN  BORDER  LANDS.  101 

said,  "  Clay,  why  don't  you  join  the  church  1  You 
must  have  thought  of  it  often  V^ 

"Why,  it  is  my  one  thought,"  he  replied.  **I 
wish  to  join  the  church  now  as  the  President  has 
done  ;  but  it  would  be  so  much  to  my  advantage — 
worldly  advantage — that  I  distrust  myself.  You 
know  they  are  accusing  the  President  now  of  only 
doing  it  to  please  the  people  and  to  hold  his  position 
and  influence  here.  How  many  would  say,  he  wants 
to  be  a  preacher  or  a  professor  here.'' 

**  Yes,  but  you  ought  to  be  man  enough  to  trample 
such  considerations  under  your  feet." 

"True,  but  that's  only  part  of  it,  Cyrus.  I 
know  it  would  please  the  President,  and  Eli  Fay  is 
there  as  pastor,  my  dear  old  friend  who  succeeded 
my  father  on  the  Honeoye,  but  I  can't  do  it." 

"Why  can't  you?" 

"Well,  Cyrus,  there  is  one  question  I've  never 
asked  you  and  have  never  answered  myself,  *  What 
think  ye  of  Christ?'  " 

"  Why,  what  do  you  mean,  Clay  ? " 

"  Cyrus,  I  mean  exactly  this  :  Wasn't  the  exal- 
tation of  Jesus  as  the  Christ  all  a  mistake  1  Isn't 
the  whole  movement,  so  far  as  it  all  hinges  on  that 
one  fact,  simply  a  stupendous  blunder,  the  Blunder 
of  the  Ages  1    That's  what  I  mean." 

"  Well,  as  to  that,  it's  done  and  you  can't  undo 
it,  and  it  seems  to  me  you  might  as  well  ask  whether 
it  was  not  a  stupendous  blunder  to  say,  *  Let  there 
be  light,'  and  to  hang  out  yonder  sun  and  moon  in 


102  BOEDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

the  sky,  and  to  make  the  movement  of  the  tides 
and  planets  depend  on  that.  The  divine  wisdom 
which  did  one  did  the  other." 

"  Ah,  then,  is  Christ  but  a  part  of  the  system  of 
Nature  to  you  ?" 

•*  Certainly,  if  you  know  what  you  mean  by 
Nature.  Nature  that  leaves  out  human  nature  and 
so  excludes  Christ  Jesus  is  no  nature  at  all.  As 
Emerson  says,  *  By  nature  I  mean  all  that  is  not 
me — otherwise  my  own  body.'  " 

"Yes,  but  why  does  he  not  say,  'My  own  soul 
or  mind  r  " 

**No  doubt  he  would  ;  but  at  that  moment  he 
was  looking  from  himself  as  a  centre  toward  all 
that  which  made  the  environment  and  had  influence 
on  him." 

*'And  he  would  then  have  made  even  God 
Almighty  a  part  of  that  nature  ?" 

*  *  No,  he  would  sooner  have  made  Nature  a  part 
of  God,— the  underlying  foundation  of  all,  the 
vital  source  and  centre  from  which  all  springs — 
that  of  which  all  else  is  a  natural  manifestation  he 
would  see  to  be  God  ;  but  he  might  say  that  man's 
soul  is  the  most  natural  thing  in  nature." 

*'A11  right,  but  it  seems  to  me  you  have  now 
given  your  whole  case  away.  Jesus  as  one  of  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  is  but  one  among  many.  We 
might  have  had  several  Saviours  ! ' ' 

''Might  have  had,  yes.  We  might  have  had  as 
many  moons  as  Jupiter."  * 


COLLEGE  LIFE  IN  BOEDER  LANDS.  103 

*  'But  we  have.  Where  is  Confucius  and  Buddha?' ' 

"Now  you're  talking.  This  is  just  what  I 
wanted  to  hear  you  say,  for  I've  been  over  all 
this  ground  before  and  I  want  you  to  see  that 
those  men  and  Jesus  stand  exactly  on  the  same 
foundation.'' 

**  Why  then  is  Christ  superior,  and  your  Saviour, 
your  Lord  ?" 

**  Simply  because  he  is.  Why  is  the  sun  superior 
to  the  moon.  When  we  haven' t  one  we  are  glad  to 
get  the  other,  but  it  is  the  sun  that  ripens  the  corn. 
Moonlight  is  good  enough  for  lovemaking." 

Clay  was  silent.  The  last  statement  struck  his 
quick  apprehension,  and  a  beautiful  image  was  in 
his  mind  at  the  word,  and  he  wondered  if  his  friend 
meant  anything  by  it. 

He  saw  the  false  analogy,  but  presently  said', 
**You  don't  suppose,  Cyrus,  that  the  President  and 
Elder  Fay  take  this  merely  human  view  of  Christ  1 " 

"I  hope  they  do,"  was  the  reply.  "I  feel  sure 
it's  the  true  view." 

"  Well,  then,  are  they  not  simply  hypocrites 
not  to  say  so  1  Their  brethren  in  that  Christian 
Church  certainly  don't  think  so,  nor  suspect  that 
they  do." 

**  Yes,  but  in  that  Church,  you  know  they  are 
absolutely  free." 

*' Still,  there  is  in  that  church  an  unwritten 
creed,  a  common  understanding  like  the  mental 
reservation  of  the  Catholics,  which  they  think 
there  is  no  need  to  confess.     All  those  people  be- 


104  BOEDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

lieve,  and  they  understand  their  fellow  worshippers 
to  believe  a  certain  theory  as  to  Christ  Jesus  par- 
taking of  the  Divine  Nature,  and  as  to  his  mira- 
cles, as  to  prophesy,  as  to  the  whole  Bible  being 
infallible,  and  if  I  step  in  with  them,  they  of 
course  take  it  for  granted  that  I  share  their  belief ; 
but  I  don't  and  I  cannot  meet  them  and  let  them 
suppose  that  I  do.  It  is  not  any  whim.  It  is  not 
my  love  of  freedom  or  of  twilight  and  moonshine, 
but  of  daylight.  It  is  my  own  truth  and  self-re- 
spect that  bars  me  out." 

To  this  Christie  could  make  no  reply.  His  con- 
science was  quick,  and  he  never  scorned  self  dis- 
trust, but  he  said  presently,  ''Well,  if  reverence 
for  other  men's  error  and  ignorance  is  to  keep  us 
from  association  with  them,  I  don't  see  how  the 
truth  is  to  spread  at  all." 

To  which  his  friend  replied,  *'  It  should  spread 
by  sincerity  if  at  all,  for  otherwise  it  is^vnot 
truth.  You  were  only  a  child  when  you  joined  that 
church,  and  your  views  then  were  not  what  they  now 
are.  Cyrus,  I  think  you  must  withdraw  from  that 
church.  Does  your  own  truth,  your  own  sincerity 
never  demand  it  ?" 

"  Now,  Clay,  this  is  carrying  the  war  into  Africa, 
isn't  it?" 

** No  matter,  don't  dodge  the  question.  What 
right  have  you  to  remain  in  that  church  ?  Did  you 
want  me  to  join  it  partly  because  my  hold- 
ing aloof  is  a  reproach  to  you  ?" 

**0h,  you  tiger-cat?"  said  Christie. 


COLLEGE  LIFE  IN  BORDER  LANDS.  105 

**  Very  well,"  was  the  reply.  ''A  tiger's  footfall 
is  not  so  sly  nor  so  dangerous  as  the  step  of  soph- 
istry in  a  Christian  Church,  when  it  begins  to 
smuggle  hypocrisy  into  the  heart  of  a  religious 
devotee  ! " 

Christie  was  hurt  at  that  word  hypocrisy.  He 
arose  and  left  the  library  and  walked  down  alone 
to  the  glen. 

•*  I  don't  believe  he  means  it,"  he  said  to  him- 
self, but  he  thought  of  himself  as  being  understood 
to  hold  opinions  he  had  wholly  given  up.  He  re- 
membered what  Primrose  had  said  of  Clay,  *^  He 
drops  on  you  unexpectedly  ;  you  don't  Jjnow  where 
he'll  light." 

But  Clay  sat  by  a  window  of  the  library,  look- 
ing out  over  the  glen  and  more  profoundly  moved 
than  his  friend  had  been. 

**  Moonlight  is  good  enough  for  lovemaking,"  he 
repeated.  What  did  Cyrus  mean!  Does  he  see 
into  the  heart  like  that  ? 

He  was  thinking  of  Catharine  and  knew  that  his 
belief  was  her's  also.  Thus  he  unconsciously  passed 
two  hours  in  the  moonlight,  thinking  of  but  one 
thing,  that  unchurched  but  lovely  Puritan,  when 
Cyrus  came  in  again  from  the  glen. 

He  said,  '*  Clay,  you  cannot  really  mean  that  I 
ought  to  withdraw  from  the  Church  1 " 

**  Well  then,"  was  the  reply,  **  you  cannot  mean 
that  I  ought  to  join  the  Church,  can  you  ?  " 

**  Well,"  said  Cyrus,  **  no  man  can  judge  for  an- 
other." 


106  BORDEE  LAN-DS   OF  FAITH. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


CO-EDUOATION. 


"  Kapila,  Kapila,  so  young  and  true, 

I  yearn  for  a  Glory  like  thine, 
And  hail  thee  from  battle  to  ask  anew 

Can  ever  thy  Valor  be  mine  ? 

Kapila  sat  on  his  Charger  dun, 

A  Hero  never  so  grave  ; 
Who  loveth  all  things,  hath  fear  of  none, 
'Tis  Love  that  maketh  me  brave. 

A  Woman  gave  me  her  soul  one  day. 
The  Soul  of  my  Soul  to  be  alway, 
Thence  came  my  Valor  to  me. 
Go  try  it, — try  it, — and  see. 

Kapila,  Kapila,  so  old   and  gray. 
The  Queen  is  calling  for  thee ; 

But  ere  I  go  hence,  I  wish  thou  wouldst  say, 
How  Wisdom  first  came  to  thee  ? 

Kapila  stood  in  his  temple  door, 

A  priest  in  eremite  guise  ; 
It  did  not  come  as  men  get  their  lore, 
'Tis  Faith  that  maketh  me  wise. 

A  Woman  gave  me  her  heart  one  day. 
The  Heart  of  my  Heart  to  be  alway  ; 
Thence  came  my  Wisdom  to  me, 
Go  try  it, — try  it, — and  see." 


CO-EDUCATION.  107 

The  detail  of  that  college  life,  so  picturesque  in 
setting,  and  so  rich  in  incidents,  went  on  in  times 
big  with  the  portent  of  coming  events. 

As  America  moved  into  the  vortex  of  the  great 
civil  war,  the  tossing  of  the  educator  himself  from 
Washington  to  Boston,  and  over  into  the  Ohio 
Yalley,  was  part  of  the  turbulence  of  those  rapids 
which  tumbled  on  toward  the  cataract. 

Startling  events  rocked  the  cradle  wherein  these 
new  hopes  were  laid ;  Webster  was  dead  with  a 
broken  heart,  and  Charles  Sumner  was  in  the  Sen- 
ate with  a  broken  head,  received  from  a  Southern 
bludgeon,  with  the  thunders  of  war  already  threat- 
ening and  breaking  around  him. 

The  new  and  more  liberal  Faith  of  New  England 
had  a  Transcendental  and  an  Ecclesiastical  branch 
which  were  curiously  unlike. 

Transcendentalism  was  a  child  of  the  French 
Revolution  turned  loose  to  run  wild  in  the  fence- 
less forests  of  the  new  world.  Fruits  were  there  to 
be  had  without  labor.  So  light  a  creature  found 
shelter  like  a  bird  on  any  springing  bough,  and  the 
blithe  goddess  had  a  spirit  of  hopefulness  which 
fixed  her  eyes  on  the  glowing  future  and  passed 
her  life  wholly  in  an  exquisite  dream,  taking  no 
heed  of  the  duties  of  to-day. 

Catharine  Eliot  was  not  wholly  entranced  with 
this  dream.  The  earnest  spirit  of  Theodore  Parker 
had  taught  her  that  life  was  something  more  than 
the  mere  flutter  of  hope's  radiant  wings,  but  Emer- 
son was  her  Idol. 


108  BORDER  LANDS   OF   FAITH. 

He  was  one  whom  the  sweet  madness  of  Trans- 
cendentalism had  not  wholly  spoiled,  and  he  came 
now  to  Antioch  with  his  great  lecture  on  Jesus, 
the  Interpreter  of  Nature. 

**  How  did  you  like  it?"  said  Miss  Eliot,  when 
they  met  at  table  after  hearing  it. 

*'  I  think  I  like  him  better  than  his  lecture," 
said  Clay.  '*  Jesus  as  the  Interpreter  of  Nature,  I 
confess  I  cannot  understand." 

"But  he  is  !  He  is!"  she  eagerly  exclaimed, 
and  defended  it  warmly  by  repeating  its  best 
points. 

'*Ah,"  said  Cyrus  afterwards,  **a  woman  argu- 
ing is  like  a  dove  walking  in  the  snow.  The  rosy 
feet  look  very  pretty,  but  they  don't  walk  far. 
Wings,  wings  and  a  heavenly  path  and  medium 
are  for  women,  and  that  is  why  they  all  worship 
Emerson  so  much  ? " 

Professor  Primrose,  always  alert  and  eager  to 
support  Miss  Eliot,  now  came  to  her  relief.  He 
was  one  of  those  carefully  schooled  New  England 
men  so  delicately  nursed  that  they  have  never  been 
truly  educated,  and  he  had  that  comfortable  con- 
ceit which  takes  it  for  granted  that  what  such  a 
Boston  man  doesn't  know,  is  not  worth  knowing. 

**I  quite  share  your  feeling.  Miss  Eliot,"  lie 
said,  ** but  superstitions  die  slowly;  superstitions 
die  slowly,  and  we  can't  expect  everybody  to  see 
those  things  as  Emerson  does.  Still,  Truth  stead- 
ily makes  its  way,  and  makes  its  men." 


CO-EDUCATION.  109 

**  Does  it,"  said  Clay,  '*  or  do  the  men  make  the 
truth,  and  what  is  Truth,  please  V 

**Why,  I  mean,"  said  Primrose,  ''true  convic- 
tions, truer  preceptions,  better  knowledge  of  Na- 
ture's facts  and  laws." 

'* Pardon  me,  Professor,"  he  said,  "as  I  see  it, 
the  knowledge  of  facts  has  but  little  to  do  with 
Truth.  That  is,  this  gathering  and  sorting  of  facts 
has  about  as  much  to  do  with  Truth  as  the  quarry- 
ing of  stone  has  to  do  with  sculpture.  I  think. 
Professor,  that  true  men  come  first,  and  true 
theories  come  afterwards,  if  indeed  they  ever  come 
at  all." 

"The  world  has  always  been  partly  full  of  true 
men,  but  never  full  of  true  theories.     I  mean  that 
true  men,  and  all  the  higher  forms  of  truth,  true 
affections,  true  deeds,  true  faith,  are  not  the  prod- 
uct of  true  opinions." 

"But  you  don't  mean  that  they  are  the  product 
of  false  opinions  ?  " 

"  Certainly  not,  they  are  not  the  product  of  opin- 
ions at  all.  You  New  England  men  seem  to  think 
that  Emerson  was  born  only  of  Man's  intellect  with 
a  creed  for  a  father  and  a  catechism  for  a  mother  !" 

**  But,  surely,  mind  is  the  main  element  of  such  a 
man?" 

**  Not  at  all,  a  vastly  greater  amount  of  affection, 
of  faith,  of  all  that  which  is  spiritual,  not  mental  or 
intellectual. 

*'  Creative  affection.  Miss  Eliot,  takes  hold  not  on 


110  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

principles,  not  on  ideas,  but  on  persons.  When 
ideas  become  incarnate  as  Ideals,  they  take  hold  on 
the  witchery  of  imagination  and  shape  men." 

**  But  are  you  not  wandering  away  from  the  lec- 
ture," said  she,  slightly  blushing. 

**0h,  no!"  he  laughingly  answered,  ''We  are 
just  getting  in  sight  of  it.  That  lecture  strikes  the 
key-note,  Christianity  is  not  a  bunch  of  opinions 
or  convictions.  It  carries  such  things  along  as 
an  army  carries  pontoon  bridges,  to  be  used  only 
when  needed.  Christ  is  Christianity ;  that  is, 
man's  faith,  affection,  hope,  are  so  quickened  by 
him,  woman's  imagination  and  love  are  so  blest 
by  him,  that  his  life,  God's  life  in  him,  is  flowing 
into  and  through  humanity  by  natural  law.  That 
vital  flow  is  Christianity." 

*'But,"  said  the  Professor,  ''you  don't  make 
anything  of  the  Reformation  then  1  Its  glorious 
reaffirmation  of  great  truths  goes  for  nothing.  Are 
you  a  Catholic  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  hope  to  be  a  Catholic  in  the  larger  sense 
of  the  word,  not  a  Papist.  But  the  Reformation, 
Professor,  was  one  of  our  sad  retreats.  It  was  a 
necessary  use  of  the  pontoons,  as  we  had  to  fall 
back  on  our  creeds  to  carry  us  over.  It  was  all  a 
false  theory,  however,  that  of  the  infallible  Book 
and  all  that— but  the  true  life  was  flowing  there 
all  the  same,  unhurt  by  the  false  theory.  Christ  is 
no  more  a  Prostestant  than  a  Catholic,  and  he  will 
have  a  new  church  yet,  better  than  either  of  those 


CO-EDUCATION.  Ill 

—but  he  is  tlie  Way,  the  Truth  and  the  Life." 

'*  But,"  said  the  Professor,  with  some  impatience, 
"why  live  wholly  upon  the  past  ?  " 

**I  believe,  Professor,  you  have  taught  us  the 
great  doctrine  of  evolution,  that  there  can  be  no 
future  except  by  vital  sequence,  it  is  the  child  of 
the  past." 

The  Professor  was  thoroughly  disturbed  and 
Catharine  was  somewhat  confused  and  mystified. 
She  was  not,  however,  vexed  as  the  Professor  was, 
but  deeply  interested  and  with  all  her  classmates, 
quite  enjoyed  seeing  the  Professor  baffled,  as  he 
was  becoming  known  as  her  most  ardent  admirer. 

Clay  and  Cyrus  went  to  their  beloved  retreat  in 
the  glen  and  walked  impatiently  to  and  fro,  more 
disturbed  than  they  liked  to  confess,  and  thinking 
of  the  two  they  had  left  together  at  the  table,  and 
Cyrus  now  suspecting  how  the  land  lay  said  en- 
couragingly, 

**  Well,  Clay,  if  he  can  get  her  he'll  have  to  fight 
for  her." 

But  Clay  felt  that  it  was  a  crisis  in  his  life,  and 
feared  he  had  already  alienated  any  sympathy  or 
regard  Miss  Eliot  might  have  had  for  him.  He 
felt,  however,  that  a  gleam  of  light  on  his  own  path- 
way had  come  from  that  lecture,  and  the  talk  that 
followed  it. 

*'But,"  said  Cyrus,  **was  his  theory  wholly 
false  that  life  springs  from  belief  ? " 

**I  don't  know,"  said  Clay,  **but,  Cyrus,  Pm 


112  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

going  to  join  the  church,  the  one  true  church  of 
Christ  that  includes  all  others." 

"You  can't  join  that,"  said  Cyrus,  ** you  were 
born  into  it,  and  you  can't  get  out  of  it." 

*'True,  true,  Cyrus,  that's  jast  what  I'm  be- 
ginning to  perceive.  It's  exactly  my  idea,  and  if 
there  is  any  Fatherhood  of  God,  who  shall  put  me 
out  of  his  grace  ? 

"  But  how  did  you  like  that  lecture  ? " 

**  Right  well,  except  that  I  would  say  Nature  the 
Interpreter  of  Jesus." 

**  Christ  is  what  needs  interpreting  for  you  and 
me.  There  is  no  other  phenomena  in  nature  so 
wonderful  and  so  mysterious  as  the  plucking  out  of 
that  defeated  poverty  and  crucified  enthusiasm 
from  its  death  and  shame,  and  giving  it  such  a 
growing  power  in  the  world. 

*'But  is  it  a  growing  power,  Cyrus,  and  will  it 
always  grow?" 

"  Certainly,  by  natural  law  that  influence  grows 
and  must  grow.  Grod  alone  could  stop  it  now. 
God  alone  started  it,  out  of  the  degredation  of  that 
Pagan  religion,  which  the  Jews  had  failed  to  re- 
deem. It  will  overrun  the  world  till  at  the  name 
of  Jesus  every  knee  shall  bow  and  every  tongue 
confess  him  Lord." 

"But,  Cyrus,  I  see  so  many  dead  limbs  at  its 
top,  that  indicate  a  decaying  heart." 

"Not  at  all,  the  air  is  dry  up  there,  and  they 
soon  drop  ofip.     The  infallible  book  and  the  prophe- 


CO-EDUCATION.  113 

sies,  and  even  the  miracles,  have  outlived  their 
usefulness  and  will  soon  drop  off  as  blossoms  fall 
before  the  fruit  can  ripen.  They  were  mere  bridges 
used  to  cross  a  muddy  stream,  and  to  keep  the 
Spiritual  life  out  of  the  swamp  of  ignorance  and  the 
slough  of  despair. 

*'It  is  now  the  reign  of  an  unselfish  service,  of 
love  and  self-sacrifice,  of  a  holy  sorrow  that  is  not 
so  much  grief  as  sympathy.  Christ  lives  as  the 
Incarnation  of  Divine  Love.  The  true  disciples  so 
take  him  into  their  hearts  that  they  absorb  him, 
they  consume  him,  they  transmute  him,  and  I  say 
nature  shows  no  other  such  marvellous  and  myste- 
rious phenomena. 

''Ah,"  said  Clay,  *'is  that  what  my  mother 
meant  by  the  Ministry  of  Grace?  I  don't  under- 
stand it. 

**  But,"  said  Cyrus,  **  don't  try  to  understand  it. 
If  you  ever  fall  in  love  with  a  noble  woman,  you 
will  not  understand  it,  nor  will  she.  So  avoid  that 
Boston  trick  of  making  too  much  of  the  under- 
standing. This  world  is  not  run  by  thinking  or 
reasoning,  so  much  as  by  love.  Did  Jesus  ever 
speak  to  the  understanding  or  ask  men  if  they 
understood  him?  Think  of  that  three-fold  ques- 
tion addressed  to  Peter : 

*  Simon,  Peter,  lovest  thou  me  ?'  " 

And  he  wandered  in  the  Glen  and  meditated 
upon  that  as  follows  : 


114  BOEDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

THE   STREAMLET. 

In  a  world  full  of  heartlessness,  wandering  alone, 
Where  disaster  and  triumph  thy  pulses  attune, 

Be  thou,  O,  my  heart,  though  unyielding  as  stone, 
As  gentle  and  genial  as  zephyrs  in  June. 

I  stretch  on  to  regions  of  manly  control, 

Where  love  has  no  passion,  and  sorrow  no  pain  ; 
To  the  land  above  sorrow,  which  only  the  soul 

That  has  suffered  and  triumphed  may  hope  to 
attain. 
May  my  life  like  this  streamlet  in  melody  flow. 

There  are  rocks  in  its  course,  there  are  foes  in  my 
way; 
But  obstructions  grow  gentle  where  soft  mosses  grow. 

And  the  still  touch  of  purity  wears  them  away. 

O  childhood  departed  !     O  boyhood  gone  ! 

Shall  my  heart  thy  innocence  know  no  more  .? 
The  billows  of  life  come  shouldering  on. 

And  bear  me  away  from  that  radiant  shore. 
Yet  I  linger  oft  o'er  those  glimmering  scenes, 

With  a  longing  I  scarce  can  understand. 
As  a  mariner  long  o'er  the  taffrail  leans, 
And  yearns  toward  his  vanishing  native  land. 


CONFIDENCE.  1 15 


CHAPTER  X. 

CONFIDENCE. 

The  sea-gull  lifts  her  wings 

On  lighting  in  the  sea, 
Aloft  again  she  springs 

And  soars  exultantly  ; 
Her  refuge  is  in  heavenly  things, 

As  mine,  my  love,  in  thee. 

Lift  up  thy  wings,  my  soul. 

If  e'er  thy  ways  decline. 
When  wild  the  billows  roll 

What  confidence  is  thine  ! 
Despair  and  death  thou  shalt  control 

If  but  her  love  be  mine. 

What  young  man  or  maiden  ever  fully  under- 
stood themselves  at  seventeen  years  of  age  ?  Life 
is  then  all  a  mirage  and  the  heart  leaps  up  when  i  t 
beholds  a  rainbow  in  the  sky. 

He  could  not  stop  thinking.  He  could  not  swal- 
low up  speculation  in  worship.  But  it  occurred  to 
him  when  an  agnostic  denied  our  knowledge  of 
God  to  ask  what  do  I  know  of  myself  1  Can  my 
hand  grasp  itself  1 

Can  1  form  any  mental  picture  of  my  own  mind, 
any  image  of  my  very  soul,  myself  1 


116  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

What  do  I  know  of  that  innermost  self  but  these 
passing  moods  or  conditions  which  I  may  more  or 
less  modify  and  control,  but  not  avoid? 

And  as  to  the  self-knowledge  there  seem  to  be  at 
least  three  creatures  living  here  within  me  each 
claiming  to  be  me. 

But  she  seems  to  have  no  such  perplexity.  She 
seems  always  the  same  and  always  to  know  who 
she  is,  what  and  where  she  is. 

She  was  his  greatest  problem.  Christ  and  the 
church  he  seemed  beginning  to  understand  ;  but 
she  was  a  puzzle  because  he  found  his  thought  of 
her  so  variable.  Walking  in  the  glen  he  seemed 
to  breathe  an  atmosphere  that  told  him  she  had 
been  there.  The  hepaticas  so  delicate  and  pure 
seemed  to  him  to  be  her  foot-prints  or  something 
she  had  scattered  as  she  passed.  The  murmuring 
rivulet  there  seemed  to  be  her  voice  or  ever  prat- 
tling of  her,  and  all  the  earlier  Deities  seemed  to 
have  left  the  woods,  while  Diana  now  reigned  there 
alone. 

•*  Queen  and  huntress  chaste  and  fair," 

he  would  say  on  seeing  the  moon,  but  he  always 
gave  the  words  a  different  application  ;  and  while 
his  si)eculation  wandered  and  wondered  whether 
they  two  could  or  should  walk  together  for  life,  he 
never  doubted  that  he  desired  it. 

Thus  two  years  glided  away  in  this  idle  but 
happy  dreaming.     Helen  Marvin,  a  most  beautiful 


CONFIDENCE.  117 

girl,  had  returned  to  the  school  and  entered  a  lower 
class,  and  Lucretia  Lane,  one  of  the  gifted  teach- 
ers, had  partly  absorbed  the  attentions  of  Prof. 
Primrose. 

Guarding  himself  as  he  always  did  when  with 
Catharine,  he  had  become  more  and  more  a  mystery 
and  a  queer  creature  to  her. 

As  they  entered  on  the  final  year  of  their  college 
life,  there  came  an  October  day  when  a  party  went 
to  Clifton,  a  few  miles  away,  walking  up  the  river 
in  the  afternoon,  having  a  little  picnic,  and  reach- 
ing home  early  in  the  evening. 

All  day,  for  once,  she  had  seemed  shy  and  sad, 
silent  and  over-sensitive,  feeling,  as  she  afterwards 
said  she  often  did  on  autumn  days,  the  flighty 
instinct  of  birds  or  migratory  creatures.  They  did 
not  mingle  freely  with  the  party,  but  hovered  about 
it ;  and  lingered  on  the  homeward  way,  and  neither 
he  nor  Catharine  could  have  told  how  it  happened 
that  they  found  themselves  together  and  loitering 
behind  on  the  little  bridge  as  the  party  entered  the 
village. 

She  seemed  so  reticent  that  he  referred  to  their 
common  joys  in  thus  seeing  so  much  of  nature  in 
their  college  life,  and  yet,  he  said,  "  Are  not  people 
often  more  united  by  common  sorrows  ?  The  sym- 
pathy of  Jesus  shone  bright  in  the  pleasures  of  the 
vintage  and  of  all  that  gentle  pastoral  life  ;  but  did 
it  not  take  hold  more  vitally  when  death  and  sorrow 


118  BORDEE  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

came  in  the  cry  of  Mary  of  Bethany,  *  Oh,  Master, 
wert  thou  here? ' '' 

**Why,  what  do  yon  meanT'  she  said  with  a 
startled  look. 

*'  I  mean  that  pleasures,  even  worthy  joys,  seem 
so  often  but  ripples  on  the  surface.  Pain  strikes 
deeper." 

**  Why,  what  a  strange  idea  ! ' '  she  said. 

'*  But  do  not  the  innocent  continually  suffer  for 
the  guilty  ?  Is  it  not  one  of  the  great  laws  of 
lifer' 

"  Why,  that  is  a  dreadful  idea,"  she  said.  *'  Is 
not  the  world  sad  enough  already  ?  " 

**  Yes,  too  sad,  but  not  too  sympathetic."     And 
without  any  purpose  or  even  knowing  why,  he 
recited  Bryant's  lines  on  The  Living  Lost : 
Of  which  the  sufferers  never  speak, 
Nor  to  the  world*s  cold  pity  show 
The  tears  that  scald  the  cheek. 

He  spoke  thus  as  unconsciously  as  he  often 
talked  to  himself  when  alone,  but  she  visibly 
started  away  from  him,  turned  pale  and  fixed  her 
large  eyes  upon  him  as  though  about  to  break  into 
tears. 

What  had  he  done  ?  He  was  deeply  troubled  by 
her  look,  but  could  not  interpret  it. 

He  tried  to  change  the  subject,  but  she  was  now 
as  silent  as  he  commonly  was  ;  and  they  walked 
from  the  bridge  to  the  ladies'  college  and  parted  in 
silence. 


CONFIDENCE.  119 

He  walked  straight  back  to  that  bridge— the 
bridge  of  sighs,  as  he  afterward  called  it,  and  won- 
dered for  hours  how  and  why  he  had  so  uncon- 
sciously hurt  her. 

But  he  had  almost  seen  tears  in  her  eyes,  and 
though  he  knew  no  cause  for  it,  he  deemed  it  a 
hopeful  sign  J  and  finally  went  to  his  room  feeling 
ecstatically  happy.  He  seemed  not  to  be  walking 
on  the  earth.  He  felt  that  his  life  had  touched  the 
dawn  of  a  golden  day,  such  as  it  had  never  known 
before.  He  was  eager  to  catch  the  first  glimpse  of 
her  in  whom  his  life  had  so  centered  itself.  He 
expected  a  sensitive  glance  from  her  tender  eyes 
which  would  tell  him  all  that  he  wished  to  know. 
He  was  sure  to  see  her  across  the  chapel  at  morn- 
ing prayers  and  to  meet  her  later  in  the  lecture 
room. 

To  his  astonishment  she  was  not  in  chapel  nor  out 
of  her  room  for  a  week,  and  when  she  did  appear 
her  eyes  were  averted  and  cold. 

What  did  he  mean  ?  she  thought.  Was  he  but 
trying  to  play  upon  her  feelings  ?  Was  he  but  a 
cynic,  as  Primrose  had  said,  concealing  his  own 
heart,  yet  searching  and  trying  that  of  everyone 
else  ?    She  would  never  speak  to  him  again. 

Why  should  he  call  up  such  a  terrible  subject  to 
her?  It  never  occurred  to  her  that  he  was  speak- 
ing of  himself  to  win  a  sympathy  he  so  needed  for 
a  secret  sorrow  of  his  own.  The  more  she  ques- 
tioned, th«  more  confused  and  distracted  she  grew. 


120  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

She  felt  that  all  the  hope  of  life  had  vanished 
for  her,  and  her  conduct,  was  such  in  refusing  any 
explanation,  which  he  had  most  kindly  asked  for, 
that  his  life  also  was  soon  embittered  and  passed 
into  the  shadow  in  a  way  that  amazed  him. 

He  remembered  the  words  of  Cyrus,  *'  If  you  ever 
fall  in  love  with  a  noble  woman,  you  will  not  un- 
derstand it,  nor  will  she." 

He  had  not  spoken  unkindly  to  her,  but  gently 
and  tenderly  and  only  to  draw  her  sympathy  and 
confidence  to  himself. 

But  a  wall  of  ice  seemed  to  have  been  suddenly 
thrown  up  between  them,  and  it  looked  as  though 
they  would  never  meet  again,  and  such  was  the 
pride  and  willfulness  of  the  human  heart  that  each 
of  them  went  on  from  blunder  to  blunder  till  they 
were  wholly  estranged. 

He  took  refuge  in  Cyrus  and  they  left  the  col- 
lege commons  and  went  to  a  farm  house  not  far 
away. 

Cyrus  had  passed  his  early  life  in  that  part  of 
the  Adirondack  forest  of  New  York  now  known  as 
Childwold  Park,  where  his  profoundly  religious 
nature  had  been  developed,  made  sympathetic  and 
converted  at  a  Methodist  camp-meeting,  as  they 
called  that  flowering  out  into  open  confession  or 
avowal  of  the  religious  consciousness.  And  now 
they  read  together  everything  from  Bible  to  Bun- 
yan,  Emerson  and  Carlyle  and  the  whole  of  the 
richest  English  and  Grerman  literature. 


CONFIDENCE.  121 

They  knew  John  Calvin  well ;  but  they  drank  in 
the  inspired  philosophy  of  Plato  so  that  Calvin's 
grim  intellectuality  could  not  compete  for  the  pos- 
session of  their  minds  with  the  soul-born  visions 
of  Zwingle  and  Tauler. 

Cyrus  had  been  taught  that  every  Christian  must 
kneel  in  Gethsemane  and  go  up  to  Calvary  bearing 
his  own  cross.  Gcethe  seemed  to  him  to  be  telling 
the  same  story,  and  it  was  the  anguish  in  that  sad 
face  that  most  stayed  his  faith  in  Carlyle.  He, 
therefore,  looked  on  in  kind  and  quiet  silence  when 
he  saw  that  both  were  suffering  and  believed  that 
time  would  bring  relief. 

Not  so  Prof.  Primrose.  He  observed  the  rup- 
ture and  assumed  at  once  that  Miss  Eliot  had  been 
annoyed  by  undue  attentions  which  she  had  re- 
jected. 

He,  therefore  pressed  his  own  suit  zealously  and 
did  all  he  could  to  draw  her  confidence,  but  quite 
to  his  surprise  it  was  entirely  in  vain  as  she  only 
sought  seclusion  and  buried  herself  in  German  and 
Italian  literature,  in  both  of  which  she  was  profi- 
cient. 

Cyrus  considered  this  a  hopeful  sign,  and  as  his 
own  heart  was  entirely  at  rest  with  his  boyhood's 
only  sweetheart,  a  young  girl  at  Childwold,  he  was 
at  peace  vrith  all  the  world,  as  he  knew  that  she 
needed  no  more  education  to  love  him  well,  which 
was  likely  to  be  her  whole  duty  in  life,  as  his  home 
was  waiting  for  her  there  in  only  another  year. 


122  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

His  love  of  Emerson  had  begun  there  in  1850, 
when  a  dozen  literary  and  scientific  men  of  Boston 
came  into  those  woods  for  the  first  time  on  a  sum- 
mer vacation  and  founded  the  Philosopher's  Camp, 
as  it  has  been  called  ever  since,  on  the  Folansbee 
Water,  west  of  the  Saranacs  and  not  far  north  of 
his  home  at  Childwold,  a  little  village  snuggling 
in  a  sunny  valley  on  the  southerly  slope  of  the 
great  mountains. 

Thither  had  come  Emerson  and  Lowell  and 
Longfellow,  with  Thoreau,  Hawthorne  and  Holmes, 
and  Agazzis,  Field  and  others,  and  Cyrus  Christie, 
then  a  boy  of  fifteen,  acted  as  one  of  their  guides, 
with  his  father  to  show  them  the  native  home  of 
the  American  moose  and  red  deer,  which  were  then 
there  in  abundance. 

There  Cyrus  literally  won  his  spurs  as  Agazzis 
presented  him  with  a  pair  of  spiked  shoes,  such  as 
linemen  now  use  to  climb  telegraph  poles,  and 
which  crafty  woodsmen  then  used  to  climb  trees  ; 
with  which  Cyrus  at  once  ascended  to  the  very  top 
of  the  tallest  pine  and  brought  down  the  great 
Osprey's  nest,  which  has  ever  since  been  famous  in 
the  Agazzis  Museum  of  Harvard  College. 

Thereafter  he  tried  to  teach  Emerson  to  shoot  a 
deer,  but  that  was  more  difficult  than  climbing 
trees,  and  they  lost  many  a  fine  buck  at  daylight, 
by  waiting  for  Emerson  to  shoot  first,  as  he  always 
insisted  that  he  could  see  nothing  but  a  foggy  mist. 


CONFIDENCE.  123 

That  became  such  a  joke  in  the  Camp  that  it  is 
said  Longfellow  left  the  party  fearing  for  his  per- 
sonal safety,  when  he  learned  that  Emerson  was 
carrying  a  gun. 

Cyrus  loved  to  tell  that  story  and  apply  it  to 
Emerson's  Transcendentalism  which  he  said  was 
only  a  foggy  mist,  leaning  up  against  Christianity 
for  support,  and  suddenly  disappearing  in  day- 
light. 

But  the  guides  determined  that  Emerson  should 
have  a  deer  if  they  had  to  hold  one  by  the  tail  till 
he  could  shoot  it,  but  even  that  failed,  and  they 
finally  ran  a  fine  buck  into  the  Lake  where  two 
smart  oarsmen  succeeded  in  rowing  Emerson  up  to 
it  to  take  it  by  the  horns,  but  in  the  struggle 
which  ensued  the  buck  again  escaped  into  the 
woods. 

Many  tramps  in  the  forest  with  those  spurs  on, 
with  which  he  could  climb  any  tree  almost  as  quick 
as  a  squirrel,  now  beguiled  the  lonely  days  ;  and 
Cyrus  always  admitted  that  his  aspiration  for  col- 
lege education  grew  wholly  from  that  chance  ac- 
quaintance with  those  philosophers. 

By  such  slight  and  accidental  opportunities,  how 
often  the  whole  course  of  a  life  is  determined. 

In  the  kitchen  of  the  farm  house  where  they  now 
boarded,    by    the    wide    open    fire    sat    grandma 


124  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

Moulton,  whose  four-score  years  told  of  earthly- 
toils  nearly  ended,  though  her  sweet  calm  face  and 
ever  tranquil  spirit  made  her  still  a  most  active  Min- 
ister of  Grace.  Of  her  Christie  was  devoutly  fond, 
and  he  hoped  his  chum  might  draw  nearer  to  her 
and  learn  from  her  the  secrets  that  no  philosophy 
could  teach  him.  So  they  used  to  visit  the  kitchen, 
where  Miss  Eliot  also  sometimes  came. 

But  to  their  sorrow  they  now  found  there  only 
one  whom  the  naughty  college  boys  had  nick- 
named The  Frock.  Sophronia  Rok  was  one  of 
those  strange  women  on  the  border  lands  of  old 
maidenhood,  who  illustrated  the  comical  side  of  the 
co-education  problems. 

'' Strong  minded  "  they  were  indeed,  and  deter- 
mined on  having  all  their  '*  rights,"  and  their  re- 
bellion at  their  feminine  fate  led  them  to  make  war 
on  all  that  the  world  reverences  in  its  ideal  of 
womanhood. 

Woman's  long  skirts  were  to  them  only  a  badge 
of  servitude  and  something  like  the  abomination  of 
desolation,  so  they  clipped  those  needful  encum- 
brances almost  as  short  as  a  Highlander's  kilt, 
while  far  below  their  scanty  limits  projected  an  en- 
ormous pair  of  walking  boots  emerging  from  some 
frightful  calico  trousers. 

It  had  the  virtue  at  least  of  confessing  more  than 
it  concealed,  and  being  called  the  Bloomer,  became 
somewhat  popular  with  a  few  of  the  more  elderly 
and  strong-minded  women. 


CONFIDENCE.  125 

She  had  joined  the  Preparatory  School,  and  be- 
ing a  very  good  scholar  and  a  great  reader,  her 
heart  was  set  on  going  through  college ;  and  the 
freedom  of  those  days  allowed  no  interference  with 
what  she  claimed  as  her  personal  rights  as  a  great 
reformer. 

The  boys  soon  named  her  Sofa  Rok,  which  soon 
became  The  Frock  ;  and  when  they  wished  to  scat- 
ter any  group  in  consternation  they  had  only  to 
whisper,  ''  The  Frock  is  coming  I  " 

She  had  found  shelter  in  this  farm  house,  and 
was  now  found  seated  near  the  saintly  grandma  as 
they  entered  the  old  kitchen,  and  ready  to  battle 
for  her  rights. 

The  Frock  began  at  once.  *'0h.  Clay,"  i^he 
said,  "I'm  so  happy  to  meet  you.  I  have  long 
wished  you'd  come  out  to  this  house.  I  used  to 
know  your  father  when  I  was  a  girl,  and  you  ought 
to  know  how  all  the  women  used  to  admire  him.  I 
tell  you  if  he  was  here  now,  some  of  us  wouldn't  be 
so  much  neglected  as  we  are.  We'd  get  some  of 
our  rights  then  1 

"Isn't  it  a  blessing  that  we  have  a  college  here 
where  women  can  be  heard?  It  must  be  awful 
lonesome  up  there  in  college  commons  for  you  boys. 
It's  agin  natur',  you  know,  to  keep  men  shut  up 
there  so  much,  all  alone." 

What  further  was  coming  those  boys  never  knew, 
as  they  fled  in  horror  to  the  woods ;  but  for  the 


126  BOEDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

first  time  they  had  a  doubt  of  the  propriety  of  co- 
education. 

The  story  got  out  that  the  Frock  had  proposed  to 
Clay  and  those  roguish  boys  congratulated  him  on 
every  hand  at  having  so  soon  found  consolation, 
while  so  many  different  stories  flew  among  the 
girls,  that  it  seemed  as  if  tongues  were  given  to 
women  only  as  claws  are  to  cats,  to  scratch  with. 

They  nearly  drove  the  sensitive  fellow  crazy  and 
he  thought  he  had  seen  enough  of  women  in  col- 
lege. 

Those  few  Bloomers  also  rebelled  against  the  use- 
ful regulation  of  alternate  days  in  the  glen,  and  the 
boys  somehow  discovered  that  whenever  the  sign 
Ladies'  Day  was  up  at  its  entrance,  those  few 
strong-minded  women  were  apt  to  be  found  over  in 
the  westerly  woods  where  all  days  were  open  to 
them,  and  it  was  soon  suspected  that  Daphne  and 
her  mulberries  had  been  transplanted  to  those  more 
natural  groves. 

And  Christie  thought  that  was  only  another 
illustration  of  the  law  of  Natural  Selection. 

One  day  an  unusual  noise  of  many  screaming 
voices  came  out  of  the  westerly  woods,  and  on  in- 
quiry it  was  learned  that  those  strong-minded 
women  were  merely  practising  the  new  college  yell. 

Only  the  thought  of  another  woman  kept  Clay 
from  leaving  and  joining  his  brother  at  Harvard. 

The  next  week  the  old  farmer  was  preparing 


OF  my 

XTNIVBBSITY 
CONFIDENCE. 


some  young  apple  trees  to  set  out  for  an  orchard  in 
the  spring. 

Those  boys  knew  the  process  well,  but  they 
looked  on  with  lively  interest  as  the  operations 
proceeded  on  the  great  floor  of  the  barn,  which  had 
been  filled  with  the  young  trees.  Eaised  from  the 
seed,  those  trees  were  of  two  years'  growth,  large 
enough  to  make  walking  sticks,  and  had  now  been 
roughly  torn  up  by  the  roots  and  sawed  off  six 
inches  from  the  root,  and  the  top  thrown  away. 
The  stump  left  was  then  cleft  through  the  heart,  a 
chosen  scion  of  a  choice  fruit  was  set  in  the  rift, 
and  the  wound  salved  over  with  prepared  wax,  and 
this  stock,  as  it  was  now  called,  was  laid  away  in  the 
cellar  to  be  set  out  in  the  spring. 

*'It's  a  strange  thing,"  said  Cyrus,  '*that  these 
natural  stocks,  unless  thus  maltreated,  are  good  for 
nothing.  Fruit  raised  from  the  seeds  of  our  fairest 
apples  is  so  sour  to  the  taste,  even  puckery,  tliat  it 
is  good  for  nothing." 

"Well,  what  does  it  mean  ?  " 

**It  means,  first,  that  we  don't  understand 
Nature's  method,  not  the  whole  of  it.  It's  not  so 
simple  a  thing  as  we  think." 

'* You've  got  to  understand,  first  of  all,  that  you 
don't  understand  the  understanding." 

*'  We  mustn' t  declare  the  natural  fruit  to  be  good 
for  nothing;  it's  good  to  be  grafted ;  that's  what 
it's  for." 

'*  But  why  should  it  need  to  be  grafted  ?  " 


128  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

'*Ah,  that's  it;  perhaps  for  the  scion's  sake. 
Civilization  must  continually  keep  touch  with  bar- 
barism, or  it  will  perish.  It  means  growth.  Even 
the  life  of  a  tree  must  have  some  love-making — 
some  sympathy." 

'*A11  the  best  qualities  of  the  tree  come  not  from 
the  earth  but  from  the  sky.  The  tree  lives,  not  so 
much  upon  the  soil  as  upon  the  sun." 

*'  Life  is  a  mystery — that  of  an  apple  tree  just  as 
much  as  that  of  a  man.  There  is  some  law  and 
sympathy  that  eludes  our  grasp.  The  fact  we  see, 
the  why  or  the  how  we  do  not  see  or  know." 

'*  But  what  is  the  fact  ?" 

''  The  fact  is  that  nature  both  blesses  and  dooms 
individuality.  It  tolerates  no  solitude.  It  puts 
all  its  vigor  into  this  solitary  shoot,  and  makes  it 
lusty  and  tall  ;  but  only  that  it  may  be  cut  down 
to  the  ground  and  receive  into  its  riven  heart  a 
gracious  scion  that  grew  elsewhere  and  earlier, 
nearer  the  sky." 

**  Ah,  now  you  are  preaching  again  !  You  always 
come  round  to  it,  the  receiving  with  meekness  the 
engrafted  word.  Well,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  at  war 
with  all  the  joy  of  life." 

•*  Not  at  all,  the  true  joy  of  life  cannot  be  sep- 
arated from  the  heroisms  of  life,  and  the  heroism 
of  life  is  found  only  where  we  find  self-denial  and 
suffering.  It  may  be  self-denial,  even  though  it 
dwell  in  a  palace  and  wear  a  crown.  It  may  be 
suffering  that  you  do  not  suspect." 


CONFIDENCE.  129 

The  word  '*  suffering  "  banished  now  every  other 
thought  but  the  image  of  the  one  sufferer  whose 
unexplained  anguish  he  was  now  sharing,  as  they 
wandered  away  to  the  woods. 

Between  these  friends  there  prevailed  such  per- 
fect sympathy  that  they  never  needed  to  explain 
to  each  other  their  silences. 

They  would  enjoy  together  the  beauty  of  a  land- 
scape and  not  a  word  pass  between  them.  They 
would  pass  hours  in  the  library,  neither  conscious 
of  the  other's  presence  ;  and  when  either  then  came 
to  himself  and  lifted  up  his  head,  he  would  know 
at  once,  without  a  word  or  a  look,  whether  his 
friend's  mind  was  now  open  to  approach  or  still 
bent  on  its  pleasant  task. 

It  was  near  the  close  of  October.  Frosts  tiad 
cleared  the  air,  but  mists  still  mellowed  the  picture 
of  the  inviting  landscape.  The  oak  leaves  yet 
clung  to  the  tree,  their  crimson  bronze  making  rich 
and  warm  everything  then  in  view.  It  was  the 
season  and  the  scene  in  which  they  always  found 
most  delight.  Pause  now  for  a  moment  in  the 
woods,  and  they  could  hear  the  partridge  whirring 
away  with  her  full-grown  brood,  or  the  squirrels 
dropping  the  chips  of  his  nut-shells  on  the  dry 
leaves. 

Wander  anywhere  and  they  could  still  find  great 
trees  clad  in  all  the  gorgeousness  of  autumn,  or 
immense  vines  laden  with  grapes,  which  in  that 
land  of  plenty,  not  even  the  birds  cared  to  gather. 


130  BORDEE  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

Stand  in  the  clearing  or  at  the  edge  of  the  forest, 
and  they  could  see  fields  of  **  tented  corn  "  filled 
with  merry  huskers,  while  here  and  there  from 
the  smaller  barns  came  the  music  of  the  measured 
beating  of  the  flail.  It  made  a  scene  of  peace  and 
plenty  and  repose  suited  to  fill  the  heart  with 
quiet  content  and  happiness. 
Clay  tried  to  say  to  himself : 

"  Golden  October 
Flushes  crimson  for  Katie  and  me." 

But  the  thought  brought  a  sense  of  humiliation 
and  defeat  such  as  he  had  never  associated  with 
October. 


DIANA  AND  MINERVA.  131 


CHAPTER  XI. 

DIANA  AND  MINERVA. 

It  caused  a  little  ripple  of  sensation  in  tlie  quiet 
life  of  Bethlehem,  when  the  rumor  spread  that  the 
leadinp^  senior  had  determined  to  leave  the  college 
and  take  his  degree  at  Harvard,  where  his  brother 
Bill  was  already  taking  honors,  having  just  been 
awarded  the  Boylstone  gold  medal,  the  first  prize 
for  oratory. 

It  seemed  incredible  that  he  would  do  so,  when  in 
five  months  more  he  was  sure,  where  he  was,  to  be 
also  graduated  with  honors,  but  what  was  the  de- 
gree of  that  woman's  rights  seminary,  as  it  had  been 
called,  when  compared  with  the  venerable  sheep- 
skins of  Harvard  ? 

Miss  Eliot  also  heard  this  rumor  and  betrayed  her 
interest  at  once  by  speaking  to  the  President  about 
it,  and  they  held  various  little  conferences  by  which 
the  President's  wife  finally  held  a  little  confessional 
over  Miss  Eliot,  and  obtained  her  story  of  the  mis- 
understanding. 

The  result  of  this  was,  that  after  some  little  femi- 
nine manoeuvering  and  diplomacy.  Clay  and  Cyrus 
were  induced  to  return  to  the  college  commons  table. 

There  she  met  him  again,  always  self-conscious 
and  alert,  yet  perfectly  gentle,  quiet  and  shy.  They 


132  BOEDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

had  never  exchanged  a  word  except  in  the  com- 
pany of  others  since  they  met  at  the  bridge.  Why 
they  were  so  separated,  she  could  not  really  under- 
stand, much  less  could  he. 

She  did  not  dream  that  he  had  meant  to  make 
to  her  any  avowal  of  affection.  He  had  never 
said  a  word  implying  that.  But  his  quickness  of 
leaping  at  a  conclusion  left  him  no  doubt  that 
she  understood  what  he  meant,  and  what  he  was 
about  to  say— when  something,  he  knew  not  what, 
had  compelled  her  instantly  to  stop  all  his  ad- 
vances, as  she  had  done. 

That  her  course  had  manifestly  plunged  her  also 
into  sorrow  was  but  the  confirmation  of  his  con- 
jectures, bat  her  refusal  to  give  him  any  explana- 
tion had  left  him  no  further  recourse  of  asking  it 
again. 

The  experience  had  tremendously  stimulated  the 
mental  activity  of  both  by  driving  them  to  solitude 
and  hard  work,  and  they  had  made  quick  work  with 
most  of  the  senior  studies. 

During  that  year,  the  subjects  wherein  his  lack  of 
early  training  had  told  most  against  him  were  all 
left  behind,  and  he  was  now  again  in  his  native  air 
with  no  more  clam  digging  of  Greek  roots,  but  with 
Logic,  Political  Economy,  Mental  Philosophy  and 
Metaphysics  to  use  the  nomenclature  of  that  time 
and  place,  which  were  but  playthings  to  his  mind. 
He  no  longer  felt  humiliated  at  the  sight  of  Miss 
Eliot's  attainments  as  when  she  had  so  fairly  ex- 


DIANA  Al^D  MINERVA.  133 

celled  him  in  Greek  ;  and  she  now  wondered  as  she 
saw  him,  without  an  effort,  come  to  the  front  in 
their  higher  studies  of  the  senior  year. 

He  felt  now  that  he  was  passing  her  in  the  rank 
of  scholarship  and  somehow  was  not  proud  of  it, 
but  ashamed,  as  if  he  had  been  caught  beating  a 
woman.  Commendation  would  make  him  blush, 
and  yet  he  often  felt  like  missing  a  word  to  let  her 
go  up  head,  as  the  boys  used  to  do  occasionally  with 
their  sweethearts  in  spelling  school. 

His  perceptions  were  now  so  quick  that  he  could 
take  Whately's  Logic  or  Stuart  Mill's,  and  reading 
it  for  two  days  so  fill  his  mind  with  the  principles 
and  the  picture  of  the  pages,  that  he  could  recite 
them  all  on  examination  as  though  he  had  the  book 
before  him. 

When  they  met  at  table  again,  it  was  like  a  severe 
duty  of  civility,  both  were  so  silent,  so  shy  and 
seemingly  so  unreal  to  each  other.  Only  their 
common  timidity  seemed  to  touch,  and  Christie  had 
to  lead  off  the  conversation  with  Professor  Primrose, 
so  that  it  seemed  like  talking  at  Miss  Eliot  rather 
than  to  her. 

She  soon  recognized  that,  and  managed  to  let 
them  know  that  she  was  not  to  be  lectured  over  the 
Professor's  head,  by  at  once  leading  off  herself  with 
all  sorts  of  discussions,  and  that  soon,  and  all  un- 
consciously to  herself,  led  to  the  sweet  surrender  of 
the  soul. 

They  had  one  day  attended  the  President's  lee- 


134  BOKBEE  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

ture  on  Justice  as  the  highest  interest  of  the  State 
and  discussed  Herbert  Spencer's  great  chapter  on 
that  subject. 

Professor  Primrose  at  once  complacently  avowed 
his  belief  that,  aside  from  some  few  mistakes  and 
errors  of  judgment  easily  rectified,  justice  was 
generally  done  amongst  men,  and  that  men,  as  a 
rule,  received  on  earth  about  what  they  deserved. 

''But  Professor,"  said  Clay,  **did  Latimer  or 
Bruno  deserve  to  die  at  the  stake?  Did  Christ 
Jesus  deserve  to  die  on  the  cross  ? " 

**0h,  of  course,'^  replied  Primrose,  *'  those  are 
exceptional  cases.     Exceptions  from  the  rule." 

*'But,  what  rule  would  you  thus  establish.  Pro- 
fessor? The  great  rule  is  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  justice  ruling  amongst  the  affairs  of  men, 
except  occasionally  in  dealing  with  individual 
cases." 

**  Why,  what  do  you  mean  1 "  said  the  Professor. 

**I  mean  that  the  great  law  of  our  life  here  is 
plainly  not  justice,  but  the  rule  of  vicarious  suffer- 
ing. It  is  so  often  the  innocent  that  suffer  and  not 
the  guilty;  the  most  innocent  often  suffer  the  most, 
and  they  directly  suffer  because  of  another's  guilt." 

**  But  what  then  becomes  of  our  justice  ? " 

"What,  indeed?  Professor,  there  is  no  such 
thing  ruling  on  earth.  There  is  a  clumsy  attempt 
amongst  men  to  attain  to  something  we  call  by  that 
name.  But  God  is  ruling  through  and  by  another 
law — a  higher  law." 


DIANA  AND  MINERVA.  135 

**  A  higher  law  than  Justice  V^ 

**  Yes,  the  divine  law  of  the  Cross,  the  law  of 
sacrifice,  the  law  of  community  of  life  won  through 
suffering,  of  grace  diffused  through  sympathy. 
God  is  dealing  with  men  not  as  individuals,  or  not 
merely  as  such,  but  as  links  in  chain-armor  of  this 
highly  strung  fabric  of  social  life,  where  the  whole 
web  quivers,  whichever  link  we  strike." 

''Well,  well,"  said  Primrose,  "that  is  a  view  I 
should  have  expected  to  meet  some  centuries  ago, 
but  not  to-day." 

"And  well  you  might,  Professor,  find  it  to-day 
in  Zwingle  ;  find  it  in  Tauler,  find  it  in  Christ  Jesus 
himself  !  But  Christie  there  understands  all  this 
far  better  than  I  do,"  said  he,  turning  to  his  friend 
for  relief. 

"No,  no!"  said  Christie.  "No,  no!  you  are 
my  teacher  now." 

"  And  mine,"  said  Catharine,  impulsively,  look- 
ing with  surprise  and  most  kindly  sympathy  at 
him. 

He  was  deeply  touched  by  Catherine's  single 
word,  and  while  he  could  not  guess  what  a  pro- 
found impression  he  had  made  upon  her  mind,  and 
heart,  he  knew  that  she  was  won  I 

She  had  divined  at  once  that  this  was  what  he 
had  tried  to  say  to  her  at  the  bridge. 

He  had  now  fully  decided  on  Harvard  at  least 
for  its  Divinity  School,  even  if  he  should  take  this 
western  degree  first,  and  he  now  lingered  only  to 


136  BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

secure  this  pearl  of  all  womanhood,  to  be  not  only 
the  heart  of  his  heart,  but  the  soul  of  his  soul. 

He  had  determined  to  become  a  Minister  of  Grace, 
though  he  belonged  to  no  church  as  yet,  and  he  felt 
that  he  could  not  proceed  further  without  at  least 
one  soul  who  would  understand  him  perfectly. 

On  returning  to  his  room  that  night,  he  seemed 
to  know  just  what  he  needed  now  to  say  and  send 
to  Catherine. 

He  seemed  to  know  her  soul  now  better  than 
even  she  knew  it  herself. 

He  took  a  little  collection  of  German  poems,  and 
hastily  placed  here  and  there  some  bits  of  blue  ribbon 
that  had  marked  his  favorite  readings.  He  lightly 
scored  in  pencil  a  stanza,  this  and  that  from 
Goethe,  Uhland  and  Heine,  Platen's  little  song, 
**Mein  Herz  und  Deine  Stimme,"  seemed  to  him 
to  mean  more  than  it  ever  meant  to  anybody  else. 

Goethe's  '*  Neue  Liebe  Neues  Leben,"  seemed  to 
him  to  begin  in  wisdom,  but  to  end  in  folly. 

But  he  marked  for  her  eye  one  stanza  of  *'  Trost 
InThranen": 

Wie  kommst  das  du  so  traurig  bist, 

Da  alles  froh  erscheint  ? 
Man  sieht  dir's  an  den  Augen  an, 

Elwiss,  du  hast  geweint. 

And  he  thus  marked  the  last  stanza  of  Schnltze's 
^*UeberallNurDu": 


DIANA   AND   MINERVA.  137 

Ach  wie  kan  ich  dein  vergessen, 

Dein  gedenken  ohne  Leid  ? 
Bist  mir  ewig  ja  so  nahe, 

Bist  mir  ewig  ja  so  weit ! 

Some  other  words  of  farewell  intimated  that 
they  should  part.  He  wrapped  it,  directed  it  and 
asked  Cyrus  to  go  in  first  and  lay  it  at  her  plate  at 
breakfast. 

He  was  profoundly  astonished  when  Cyrus  came 
hastily  back,  bringing  him  a  letter  she  had  also 
sent  down  to  the  table  before  she  received  the 
books. 

It  was  unsigned,  with  no  date  or  address,  and 
only  said, 

*'  Will  you  not  come  to  see  me  ? " 

It  had  cost  Catherine  a  sore  struggle  to  send  that 
little  word,  but  she  perceived  at  last  that  she  had 
been  unjust  in  refusing  the  explanation  he  had 
long  since  so  kindly  asked  for,  and  she  had  felt 
something  of  a  noble  woman's  magnanimity  in 
realizing  that  they  both  had  been  misunderstood 

She  now  saw  that  she  had  wholly  misunderstood 
his  purpose  in  speaking  to  her  at  the  bridge.  His 
words  at  the  table  came  like  a  revelation,  and  true 
as  she  knew  them  to  be,  she  realized  for  the  first 
time  that  he  was  not  applying  them  to  her  nor  to 
any  of  her  personal  affairs. 

She  wrote,  therefore,  that  single  line,  believing 
he  would  respond  to  her  heart's  cry,  before  receiv- 


138  BORDER  LANDS   OF  FAITH. 

ing  the  little  volumes  that  told  so  much  to  her  wait- 
ing heart. 

It  was  evening  before  she  was  summoned  to  the 
parlor  to  meet  a  caller  for  whom  the  day  had 
seemed  even  longer  than  for  her.  Her  one  line  had 
filled  him  with  such  a  tempest  of  conflicting  feel- 
ings, that  he  had  avoided  meeting  her  at  table  or 
in  public,  as  his  heart  was  a  tossing  sea  on  which, 
however,  the  bark  of  hope  rode  lightly. 

He  could  make  nothing  of  what  seemed  so  like  a 
change  of  mind  in  one  who  was  but  incarnate 
steadfastness,  but  he  remembered  Christie's  word, 
**  You  will  not  understand  it — nor  will  she." 

He  understood  it  quickly  when  they  met.  He 
was  walking  up  and  down  the  room  impatiently, 
when  she  came  in  quickly,  her  pale  face  tense  with 
excitement,  and  coming  close  to  him,  laid  her  cool 
hand  in  his  burning  one  and  said  at  once,  "  Why 
have  you  been  so  disturbed  since  our  walk  in  Oc- 
tober?" 

**Why  have  you?"  he  answered,  still  holding 
her  hand  firmly. 

*'I  could  not  understand,"  she  answered,  "why 
you  should  so  refer  to  my  personal  history,  to  my 
only  sorrow." 

"  Your  sorrow  ? "  he  replied,  "  I  never  knew  that 
you  had  one,  and  was  only  thinking  of  my  own." 

Then  the  mutual  confessions  all  came  out,  of  two 
innocents  suffering  for  the  wrongs  of  others,  and  he 
showed  her  the  following  slip  from  a  newspaper  as 


DIANA  AND  MINERVA.  139 

illustrating  his  idea  of  what  lie  had  tried  to  gay  at 
the  bridge. 

"  Two  sisters  in  Connecticut  became  insane 
through  their  devotion  to  a  brother,  for  whose  in- 
carceration and  support  in  a  private  retreat  they 
denied  themselves  the  necessities  of  life." 

He  saw  how  unfeeling  his  words  must  have  seemed 
to  her,  which  he  only  meant  to  speak  as  opening 
the  one  sacred  confidence  of  life. 

Those  words  now  came  more  directly  in  the  lan- 
guage of  nature,  and  without  any  college  preface  or 
literary  circumlocution. 

They  sui)posed  they  had  been  together  but  a  few 
moments,  when  the  kindly  matron  of  the  ladies 
college  knocked  at  the  door  to  say  that  the  hour 
for  closing  the  hall  was  long  past. 

They  had  been  there  three  hours,  but  it  was  the 
only  time  they  had  ever  been  alone  together,  ex- 
cept their  first  imprisonment  of  two  hours  in  the 
mathematical  examination  room  when  their  co-edu- 
cation began.  They  felt  now  that  it  was  just  be- 
ginning all  over  again.  The  life  of  the  soul  was 
now  to  begin  under  the  higher  law  of  spiritual  de- 
velopment. 

Both  felt  that  they  had  never  tasted  life  before 
and  they  were  ecstatically  happy.  Yet  their  sym- 
pathy had  a  profoundly  serious  foundation,  in  view 
of  the  life  he  had  chosen  as  a  Minister  of  God's 
Grace. 

Those  who  fear  that  co- education  may  lead  to 


140  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

premature  or  hastily  formed  relations  between 
young  men  and  women,  will  be  found  to  be  those 
who  speak  with  slight  consideration  of  the  subject, 
or  with  little  knowledge  of  its  realities. 

They  fail  to  appreciate  the  serious  purposes 
which  may  lead,  a  gifted  young  woman  to  devote 
all  her  early  life,  the  whole  flowering  time  of 
romantic  youth,  to  a  course  of  secluded  and  severe 
study,  which  she  hopes  may  make  her  a  nobler 
woman  and  more  fitted  to  be  man's  equal,  if  not 
his  superior,  and  the  companion  of  his  soul  in  the 
serious  duties  of  life. 

The  Flora  McFlimseys  of  society  have  no  part  in 
such  a  life,  and  the  Divorce  Courts  are  sustained 
and  overloaded  with  the  wrecks  of  their  existence. 

They  are  mere  butterflies  of  fashion  and  folly, 
which  flutter  for  a  day  only  in  the  glorious  sun- 
shine of  life,  which  nature  provides  for  songbirds 
and  singing  souls. 

If  the  college  friendships  of  men  are  among  the 
most  deep-rooted  and  long-enduring  things  of  life, 
does  it  not  follow  that  women  admitted  to  that 
noble  fellowship,  meet  nowhere  else  where  merely 
superficial  and  showy  attractions  are  more  com- 
pletely subordinated  to  the  actual  knowledge  of 
the  mental  character  and  qualities,  which  form  the 
lasting  ties  between  immortal  souls  ? 

That  thorough  knowledge  and  mental  acquaint- 
ance resulting  from  the  actual  competition  for 
years  of  the  class  room  in  their  daily  recitations  of 


DIANA   AND   MINERVA.  141 

common  studies,  now  blossomed  into  the  more  per- 
sonal relation  of  the  affections,  and  bore  a  fruitage 
fairer  than  its  flowers. 

The  first  class  graduated  in  June,  1857,  and  his 
oration  and  poem  on  Life  was  followed  by  her's  on 
Duty,  and  neither  of  them  would  ever  confess 
which  took  the  first  honors  of  that  class,  and  the 
record,  when  examined,  proved  that  their  attain- 
ments were  so  equal  that  each  had  been  awarded 
the  first  rank. 

And  now  came  out  the  great  secret  of  those  little 
conferences  of  Miss  Eliot  with  the  President  and 
his  wife. 

The  great  educator  thought  it  desirable  to  fill  the 
college  chairs  as  soon  as  possible  with  teachers, 
educated  in  his  system  and  fully  imbued  with  his 
ideas  and  principles,  and  he  had  long  since  sifted 
and  sorted  this  first  class  of  fifty  to  find  any  mate- 
rial suitable  for  his  purpose. 

And  what  was  the  surprise  of  these  young  grad- 
uates, at  least  one  of  them,  to  be  invited  to  a  pri- 
vate conference  with  the  President,  where  Miss 
Eliot  looked  as  innocent  as  a  dove, — though  she 
was  well  aware  of  its  import  from  the  time  of  her 
confessional  to  the  President's  wife — while  the 
President  offered  to  her  future  husband  the  first 
Professorship  of  Logic  and  Belles-Lettres,  and  to 
her  that  of  Modern  Languages  and  Literature. 

His  duties  would  require  him  also,  as  first  Pro- 
fessor, to  act  for  the  President  whenever  he  was 


142  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

absent,  in  conducting  the  worship  in  the  college 
chapel  on  Sundays  and  the  daily  morning  prayers. 
Catherine  had  worked  up  this  surprise  as  the 
first  benediction  of  her  love. 

K  he  had  worshipped  her  before  as  Diana,  he 
now  fell  at  her  feet  and  hailed  her  also  as  Minerva, 
for  her  wisdom  had  so  far  transcended  his,  as  to 
open  all  gates  before  him. 

She  had  at  once  opened  his  pathway  to  the  Min- 
istry of  Grace  and  stood  smiling  beside  it  as  his  first 
Ministering  Angel,  while  he  was  blindly  grouping 
in  the  dark,  without  knowing  which  way  to  turn 
to  find  its  entrance  : 

"  While  Valor's  haughty  Champions  wait 
Till  all  their  scars  are  shown  ; 
Love  walks  unchallenged  through  the  gate 
To  sit  beside  the  Throne  !  " 


LOVE  AND  LOGIC.  143 


CHAPTER    XII. 

LOVE  AND  LOGIC. 

Swiftly  sped  the  weeks  for  the  young  Professor 
as  his  life  now  entered  on  a  series  of  events  that 
seemed  to  move  with  maddening  speed,  as  the 
country  passed  into  the  shadow  of  the  impend- 
ing conflict  of  war. 

A  Professor  of  Logic  and  a  Minister  of  Grace 
were  a  combination  apparently  inconsistent,  neces- 
sarily in  conflict,  and  involving  the  inevitable 
question  of  which  should  extinguish  and  supersede 
the  other. 

As  the  Calvinist  would  put  it,  if  an  immovable 
object  is  met  by  an  irresistible  force,  what  can  re- 
sult but  "a  wreck  of  matter  and  a  crush  of 
worlds." 

Not  so,  says  the  Philosopher,  for  if  the  object  be 
immovable  the  bodies  must  become  one  and  the 
force  be  absorbed  in  the  union,  whereby  the  im- 
movable object  will  possess  and  contain  the  irresist- 
ible force  as  part  of  itself. 

The  new  Professorship  was  to  be  attempted  after 
the  hurried  preparation  of  a  single  year  in  the  Di- 
vinity School  of  Harvard,  and  in  the  meantime 
Catherine  was  to  speed  away  to  Europe  to  continue 
there  her  training  for  the  professorship  of  modern 
languages. 


144  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

And  now  began  the  culminating  romance  of  her 
life.  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  was  then  an  honored 
Consul-General  of  her  country,  and  with  his  lovely 
wife  welcomed  her  to  his  family  circle,  and  there, 
with  rare  facilities,  she  saw  the  best  life  of  Eng- 
land, Paris  and  Italy.  The  one  year  of  her  con- 
templated absence  was  prolonged  to  two,  and  the 
educational  and  social  advantages  and  happiness  of 
it  were  so  great  that  this  met  the  hearty  approval 
of  her  intended  husband,  whose  trust  in  her  was  so 
perfect  that  his  faith  was  in  no  way  shaken  even 
when  the  consul's  noble  wife  was  compelled  to 
write  him,  in  the  second  year,  of  her  anxiety  lest 
the  attentions  of  a  prominent  Boston  artist  and 
sculptor,  then  at  Rome,  might  make  it  impossible 
for  Catherine  to  return  to  that  obscure  western 
school. 

**  If  he  can  get  her,  he  may  have  her,"  was  the 
reply  of  that  perfect  faith  and  confidence  born  of 
conquest  of  the  soul  in  their  long  school  life,  and 
nourished  now  by  their  constant  communication. 
He  was  joyfully  happy  in  that  perfect  trust,  and 
busy  himself  during  his  first  year  of  preparation 
for  the  Ministry  of  Grace,  and  then  in  entering  on 
his  new  Professorship.  His  duties  were  new.  His 
occupation  was  incessant.  His  interests  were  many. 
And  what  with  his  new  lectures  and  his  occasional 
sermons  in  the  college  Chapel,  he  was  wholly  ab- 
sorbed and  coming  nearer  and  nearer  to  an  answer 
to  the  one  most  absorbing  question  for  him,  *' What 


LOVE  AND  LOGIC.  145 

think  ye  of  Christ  f  For  him,  that  was  a  study  of 
the  whole  of  human  life  and  destiny  here  and 
hereafter. 

Would  her  life  amidst  and  within  those  grand 
churches  develop  in  her  such  a  growth  of  devout 
feeling  and  quick  religious  sympathy  as  he  had 
found  in  his  native  forests  ? 

Or  would  those  plain  discoveries  and  the  now 
familiar  view  of  Rome's  squalor  and  vice,  and  of 
its  church's  empty  pretences,  pomp  and  parade, 
yet  more  fully  alienate  her  sympathy  from  anything 
called  Christianity  ? 

He  brooded  long  over  the  miracles.  And  it 
somewhat  cleared  the  sky  for  him  when  the  Presi- 
dent lectured  on  that  subject  and  said,  '*  Miracles 
are  the  children  of  Materialism.  So  long  as  the  lat- 
ter lingers  about  our  philosophy,  the  former  will 
keep  their  place  in  our  theology.  Believe  that  God 
is  far  away,  external  to  nature,  and  Calvin  must 
resort  to  miracle  as  the  only  ground  of  belief.  See 
with  Plato  the  divine  immanence,  and  Calvin's 
miracles  become  absurd  conjectures,  while  those  of 
Christ  Jesus,  in  healing  the  sick  and  by  faith  mov- 
ing mountains  at  the  bidding  of  love,  when  rightly 
understood,  become  but  natural  phenomena,  and  to 
Calvin  no  miracles  at  all." 

'*  The  prophecies  were  mainly  of  the  imagina- 
tion, or  the  intelligent  forecasting  of  what  was 
probable  in  the  future  as  natural  sequences  of  what 
was  already  known.     Any  astronomer  can  foretell 


146         BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

an  eclipse  thousands  of  years  ahead,  and  that  to 
the  uneducated  man  is  both  a  prophecy  and  a 
miracle." 

*'  So  of  most  of  the  apparently  supernatural  things 
recorded,  they  are  either  mistranslations  or  inter- 
polations put  in  long  after  the  events  described." 

He  was  yet  too  immature  to  understand  all  that 
the  President  was  saying,  but  his  sympathy  took 
hold  promptly  on  a  faith  so  clear  and  high,  which 
yet  had  all  science  and  philosophy  behind  it, 
and  he  only  wished  that  Catherine  might  share 
those  studies,  and  his  rising  hopes. 

Would  her  prolonged  life  in  Rome  fit  her  to  bet- 
ter aid  him  in  his  further  study  of  those  great 
questions  ? 

To  his  view, one  of  her  greatest  privileges  in  Rome 
might  be  to  meet  the  great  German  scholar  Tischen- 
dorf,  then  just  returning  from  the  Convent  on  Mt. 
Sinai  with  that  priceless  manuscript  of  the  Gospels 
there  just  discovered,  written  about  one  hundred 
years  after  the  death  of  Jesus  and  now  admitted  to 
be  the  earliest  ever  written,  which  is  still  pre- 
served. 

To  see  that  old  Greek  text  through  her  educated 
eyes,  so  familiar  with  every  Greek  dialect,  was  bet- 
ter than  to  see  it  himself,  and  the  first  problem  he 
gave  her  was  to  compare  it  with  the  next  oldest 
copy  in  the  Vatican,  and  later  with  the  third  oldest 
copy  in  the  British  Museum,  to  verify,  as  she  did, 
the  amazing  statements  of  Tischendorf  and  Strauss, 


LOVE  AND  LOGIC.  147 

then  first  published,  that  neither  of  those  oldest 
manuscripts  contained  the  last  twelve  verses  of 
Mark,  for  centuries  accepted  as  genuine  and  infalli- 
ble, in  King  James'  version  of  those  Gospels. 

As  Mark  is  now  generally  admitted  by  scholars  to 
be  the  oldest  Gospel  written,  the  result  was  plainly 
to  show  that  the  supernatural  was  not  taught  by 
Jesus  or  his  disciples;  and  that  all  those  wonders  and 
apparently  miraculous  events  were  but  additions  to 
the  record,  or  interpolations  and  embellishments  of 
later  ages,  as  any  story  naturally  grows  by  much 
repeating. 

But  she  also  saw  more  in  those  early  manuscripts 
than  he  had  ever  discovered,  and  after  seeing  what 
was  not  in  them,  as  many  critics  do,  she  carefully 
read  what  was  in  them  and  learned  that  Jesus  was 
spoken  of  in  several  places  simply  as  the  Carpenter, 
and  as  Joseph,  the  Carpenter's  son,  (John  1 :  45; 
VI :  42),  and  particularly  after  his  first  sermon  in 
the  synagogue  at  Nazareth  and  "among  his  own 
kin  and  in  his  own  house,"  where  bis  four  brothers 
and  at  least  two  sisters  were  then  living  (Mark  YI : 
3;  Matt.  XIII  :  66),  "  that  he  could  there  do  no 
mighty  work,  save  that  he  laid  his  hands  upon  a 
few  sick  folk  and  healed  them." 

And  when  she  read  in  Luke  11 :  48,  the  only  re- 
corded word  that  Mary  ever  said  about  the  parent- 
age of  Jesus,  ''Thy  father  and  I  have  sought  thee 
sorrowing,"  and  found  the  plain  Greek  work 
"parents,"  in  two  places,  Luke  11 :  33,  43,  curiously 


148  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

translated  in  St.  James's  version  not  **  parents,'' 
but  **  Joseph  and  Ms  mother,"  she  was  amazed  and 
could  not  help  wondering  why  four  English  words 
were  used  to  translate  one  Greek  word,  where  there 
was  no  possible  ambiguity  in  the  original. 

But  when  the  great  Cardinal  came,  who  had 
kindly  aided  her  to  an  inspection  of  those  early 
manuscripts,  and  thinking  he  had  a  convert,  sought 
most  persuasively  to  lead  her  as  a  lost  lamb  of  the 
flock  to  the  Roman  Confessional,  of  the  worship  of 
Mary  and  the  Holy  Trinity  and  the  sacred  relics,  as 
told  in  the  Marble  Faun  in  our  next  Chapter,  he 
was  amazed  in  turn  to  find  a  young  girl  in  Rome 
only  twenty-one  years  of  age,  who  knew  as  much  of 
those  early  records  as  he  did. 

Probably  few  other  women  in  Italy  had  ever  had 
their  attention  called  to  those  points,  and  after  a 
long  discussion,  the  Cardinal  himself  was  brought 
to  the  confessional,  as  he  finally  had  to  say  : 

**  Oh,  yes,  my  daughter,  the  sincere  clergy  always 
admit  those  facts  when  they  meet  with  scholars 
capable  of  understanding  them  ;  but  for  many  others 
silence  seems  still  to  be  the  greater  kindness,  as 
mankind  is  not  yet  wholly  out  of  tlie  mudhole  of 
the  middle  ages,  and  many  souls  still  need  those 
old  bridges,  and  every  old  plank  or  rope  we  can 
leave  them,  to  get  over  to  the  Christianity  of  to-day, 
which  does  not  depend  at  all  upon  prophesy  or 
miracles,  but  rests  wholly  upon  the  spiritual  life 
and  teachings  of  Jesus." 


LOVE  AND  LOGIC.  149 

As  that  was  only  the  old  Jesuit  argument  of  the 
end  justifying  the  means,  Catherine  was  still  more 
amazed,  and  asked  the  Cardinal  further  about  the 
main  prop  of  that  old  church,  the  fall  of  man  as  a 
race  and  the  miraculous  redemption  from  the  effect 
thereof,  by  the  death,  agony  and  Atonement  of 
Jesus,  and  pressed  the  question,  whether  such  a 
doctrine  was  consistent,  or  could  coexist  with  the 
doctrine  of  a  Heavenly  Father  to  whom  Jesus 
prayed. 

There  was  no  evading  that  question,  which 
pressed  like  a  bayonet  at  his  heart,  and  the  Cardi- 
nal could  only  suggest  again  the  sad  necessities  of 
those  dark  ages,  which  needed  any  story  or  any 
theory  which  could  lift  them  up,  or  even  frighten 
them  into  propriety  by  the  terrors  of  damnation  in 
an  endless  hell. 

But  he  finally  said  that  doctrine  is  not  so  much 
a  Bible  doctrine  as  it  is  commonly  claimed  to  be. 
It  is  only  told  in  Gfenesis  III,  and  is  never  men- 
tioned again  in  the  Old  Testament. 

Christ  never  refers  to  Adam's  fall,  nor  does  John, 
the  most  Spiritual  apostle,  nor  Peter,  the  fighter, 
nor  even  Jude. 

It  is  therefore  fair  to  assume  that  it  is  an  ancient 
legend,  which  the  unknown  writer  of  Genesis 
availed  himself  of  and  utilized  and  rewrote,  some- 
what as  Tennyson  is  now  writing  the  Arthurian 
Legends  anew,  in  order  to  write  into  it  a  moral  and 
a  spiritual  lesson. 


150  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

The  Hebrew  people  probably  believed  in  some 
fall  of  man,  which  affected  the  whole  human  race, 
as  it  was  very  bad  in  those  days,  except  the  very 
best  of  their  own  chosen  people,  and  Paul  evidently 
availed  himself  of  that  belief,  to  enforce  his 
own  argument  and  teachings  with  those  Hebrew 
people,  who  were  a  stiff-necked  race,  and  the  earli- 
est Puritans  in  their  customs  and  habits. 

But  when  Paul  comes  to  speak  of  sin  in  Romans 
VII,  he  says  nothing  of  Adam  or  the  fall,  nothing 
of  original  or  of  inherited  sin,  but  says,  ''  we  should 
serve  in  newness  of  spirit  and  not  in  the  oldness  of 
the  letter,"  and  in  Romans  YIII,  39,  that  nothing 
*'  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Gfod, 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

This  admirable  answer,  so  adroit  and  sincere,  so 
pleased  Catherine,  thai  she  actually  went  to  that 
Confessional  the  following  Sunday,  and  then  wrote 
a  long  account  of  all  this  to  the  young  professor  of 
Logic  at  Antioch  ;  but  added  at  the  end  in  refer- 
ence to  that  evasive  translation  of  "  parents  "  and 
other  similar  things  she  had  found, 

*'  It  is  evident  that  some  of  those  old  Monks  of 
the  dark  ages  have  been  monkeying  with  the 
sacred  records,  and  that  primitive  Christianity,  as 
taught  by  Jesus,  cannot  be  found  in  Rome  to-day, 
without  looking  for  it  with  a  microscope  in  these 
old  records." 

Interested  as  he  was  in  these  questions,  he  was 
far  too  busy  and  too  completely  at  rest  in  his  trust 


LOVE  AND  LOGIC.  151 

in  Catherine  very  seriously  to  ponder  them,  while 
she  was  so  fully  absorbed  in  her  affection  for  him 
and  in  her  wish  to  complete  her  preparation  that 
she  might  return  to  him  and  to  her  home,  even  to 
know  that  such  questions  had  any  very  important 
significance  for  him  or  for  her. 

She  had  devised  the  celestial  telegraph  as  she 
called  it  by  which  they  had  communication  every 
night  when,  at  a  given  hour,  they  would  both  gaze 
at  a  given  star,  and  feel  that  they  were  seeing  each 
other's  affection  there  reflected,  and  even  hear  what 
each  was  whispering  to  the  other's  trust. 

Not  the  pole-star,  though  always  in  sight  as 
that  was  too  far  away,  too  low  down,  and  too 
cold,  now  and  then  one  of  the  planets  seemed 
to  place  itself  as  their  mirror  amoris,  but  during 
part  of  the  year  Alpha  Lyrae  was  the  star  that 
hovered  between  them,  and  which  came  at  length 
to  seem  to  him  to  show  the  very  reflection  of  her  face, 
and  the  glow  of  her  deep  and  tranquil  affection. 

Allowing  for  the  six  and  a  half  hours  of  time  that 
separated  the  observers,  he  in  the  earliest  twilight, 
she  before  retiring,  or  on  rising  in  the  night,  would 
thus  gaze  for  a  half  hour  on  that  lovely  object, 
feeling  something  of  the  peace  of  nature  flowing 
into  their  hearts  and  deepening  their  common  trust. 

This  constant  thought  of  her  seemed  to  make 
him  more  and  more  sympathetic  and  more  and 
more  conscious  of  the  dependence  of  his  life  on 
hers.     His  sensitive  nature  was  always  trembling 


152  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

like  the  magnetic  needle,  seeming  to  change  with 
every  motion  of  the  ship,  yet  an  image  of  constancy, 
showing  even  in  its  quivering,  the  stress  of  the  one 
commanding  attraction. 

It  seemed  to  him  that  he  could  actually  feel  all 
the  changes  in  her  moods  and  all  the  daily  motions 
of  her  life, despite  the  hundred  degrees  of  the  earth's 
surface  that  lay  between  them. 

And  so  they  watched  the  stars  and  dreamed  and 
waited. 

But  on  receiving  that  letter,  the  young  Professor 
of  Logic  set  himself  to  a  more  careful  study  of  this 
Gospel  of  Mark,  and  discovered  that  the  pretty 
story  of  the  Star  of  Bethlehem  or  of  any  miraculous 
birth  or  resurection  was  not  in  it  ;  and  he  then 
looked  at  the  record  of  this  great  Cardinal,  who, 
professing  infallibility  and  inspiration,  made  such 
candid  admissions  of  manifest  error. 

He  was  not  really  a  Cardinal  as  yet,  except  in  his 
heart  and  hopes,  but  was  then  in  the  Church  of  San 
Giorgio  in  Velabro,  for  which  he  had  left  a  great 
position  at  Oxford,  and  the  English  Church  in  1845. 

His  exquisite  hymn  had  endeared  him  to  all  hearts: 

**  Lead  kindly  light,  amid  the  encircling  gloom, 

Lead  Thou  me  on  ! 
The  night  is  dark  and  I  am  far  from  home,— 

Lead  Thou  me  on  ! 
Keep  Thou  my  feet,  I  do  not  ask  to  see 
The  distant  scene,— one  step  enough  for  me. 

Lead  Thou  me  on  !  " 


LOVE  AND  LOGIC.  153 

He  had  acquired  the  idea  in  early  life,  that  revo- 
lutions do  sometimes  roll  backward,  and  he  seems 
to  have  believed  that  the  English  and  the  Roman 
Church  could  and  should  be  united. 

But  Rome  made  no  concessions,  and  a  total  sur- 
render of  the  priceless  right  of  private  judgment 
and  conscience,  and  of  free  thought  and  speech 
were,  as  always,  its  only  terms. 

Consistency  is  a  jewel  which  seemed  not  to  be  in 
his  collection. 

Charles  Kingsley,  the  gifted  Rector  of  Eversley 
in  1864  in  his  brilliant  Review  of  Fronde's  History 
of  England,  noticed  the  defection  as  a  typical  event 
of  the  middle  of  the  19th  Century,  in  such  severe 
terms,  as  to  reopen  the  discussion,  and  the  world 
rang  with  it  for  another  dozen  years,  till  1877,  when 
he  was  nearly  eighty  years  of  age,  he  was  announced 
as  the  first  English  Cardinal. 

And  his  "History  of  his  Opinions,"  since  called  so 
strangely  An  Apology  for  his  Life,  ''Apologia  pro 
Vita  sua,^^  thus  states  his  reasons,  on  page  236, 
"  There  are  but  two  alternatives,  the  way  to  Rome 
and  the  way  to  Atheism  ;  Anglicanism  is  the  half- 
way house  on  the  one  side,  and  Liberalism  is  the 
half-way  house  on  the  other." 

And  **  there  were  a  number  of  tender  eager  hearts 
who  were  watching  me,  wishing  to  think  as  I 
thought,  and  to  do  as  I  did,  if  they  could  but  find 
it  out    *    *    *    and  felt  the  weariness  of  waiting, 


154  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

and  the  sickness  of  delayed  hope,  and  did  not 
understand  that  I  was  as  perplexed  as  themselves, 
and  were  made  ill  by  the  suspense." 

Some  women  were  weary  of  his  confusion  of  mind, 
therefore  the  Pope  was  infallible,  and  the  English 
Church  should  be  abandoned. 

The  double  vision  that  saw  two  taverns  on  that 
road,  instead  of  one,  is  most  peculiar,  and  suggests 
that  the  English  Church  has  long  been  recognized 
as  a  half-way  house  of  comfortable  rest  for  indolent 
or  indifferent  souls ;  but  no  road  leads  from  it  to 
Atheism. 

But  Liberalism  in  religion  ends  the  19th  Century 
with  no  half-way  houses,  but  with  many  well  recog- 
nized leaders  of  about  the  same  age  as  Newman, 
whose  lives  cover  the  entire  century,  like  James 
Martineau  in  England,  and  William  H.  Furniss  of 
Philadelphia,  who  are  still  proclaiming  their 
favorite  theme,  that  God  is  Love,  and  who  are  no 
nearer  Atheism  than  Jesus  was ;  and  no  one  believes 
that  their  road  tends  in  that  direction. 

My  Prayer. 

Shall  my  approach  to  Thee 
O,  God,  be  but  a  sigh, 
And  all  thy  Love  for  me 
See  but  a  beggars'  cry  ? 

Lord  God,  rebuke  my  tears, 
My  murmurings  and  fears  ! 


LOVE  AND  LOaiO. 


165 


And  be  my  Prayer  my  joy 

Where  I  in  Thee  may  hide, 
Like  an  all-trusting  boy, 

Safe  by  his  Father's  side. 
My  sorrow,  toil  and  care 
I  know  that  Thou  dost  share  / 


OF  THK 


UNIVERSITY 


Cai  ipnBM\K 


156  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE     MARBLE     FAUN. 

How  many  literary  artists  have  tried  to  picture 
tlie  American  girl  abroad  ! 

Howells  attempted  it  in  his  Lady  of  the  Aroo- 
stook, and  greatly  improved  on  Miss  Blood  in  his 
Buffalo  girl  named  Brown  in  his  Indian  Summer, 
and  his  Boston  woman  in  New  York,  seeking  her 
change  of  fortunes,  is  far  better  than  either. 

The  caricature  of  "  Daisy  Miller"  by  James,  even 
as  amended  in  his  '*  perfect  lady  "  has  been  followed 
by  so  many,  that  we  welcomed  with  pleasure  the 
bright  "  Yassar  Girls  Abroad,"  by  Mrs.  Champney, 
though  they  were  about  the  only  '^  Innocents 
Abroad"  that  summer;  for  '* Daphne"  by  Mrs. 
Cruger,  and  the  '*Fair  Barbarian"  by  Mrs.  Bur- 
nett were  there  soon  after  and  drove  them  home. 

But  no  one  as  yet  has  portrayed  the  highest  type 
of  the  Puritan  Maiden,  educated  yet  lovely,  so  well 
as  our  greatest  master,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  in 
his  Hilda  of  the  Marble  Faun. 

That  it  was  real,  and  drawn  from  life,  was  evi- 
dent as  soon  as  it  was  seen  ;  as  the  four  characters 
stand  at  once  together  on  its  first  page,  Miriam, 
Hilda,  Kenyon  and  Donatello,  in  the  sculpture 
gallery  in  the  Capitol  at  Rome,  looking  at  the 
antique  relic  of  a  statue,  the  Faun  of  Praxiteles. 


THE    MARBLE    FAUN.  157 

The  very  spirit  of  mischief  is  in  it  as  the  three 
young  American  artists  chaff  the  young  Italian 
count,  Donatello,  with  his  resemblance  to  the 
Faun,  '*the  true  and  natural  conception  of  the 
antique  in  poetry  and  art;  "  and  wonder  how  any 
sculptor,  though  a  poet  also,  could  have  imagined 
the  sportive  and  frisky  thing,  and  then  succeeded 
in  imprisoning  it  in  marble. 

The  curious  imagination  is  indicated  mainly  by 
the  two  ears  of  the  Faun,  which  are  leafshaped, 
terminating  in  little  peaks,  covered  with  soft, 
downy  fur,  and  by  ''a  certain  caudal  appendage, 
which  is  hidden  by  the  lion's  skin  that  forms  the 
garment." 

The  lack  of  any  moral  severity  in  the  statue,  it  is 
said,  is  "what  makes  it  so  delightful  an  object  to  the 
human  eye,  and  to  the  frailty  of  the  human  heart." 

^*  Let  us  see,"  said  Miriam,  as  she  tried  to  lift  his 
brown  curls  to  see  the  ears.  "No,  no,"  said 
Donatello,  springing  away,  "my  ears  are  a  tender 
point  with  me." 

"Well,  well,"  said  Miriam,  "  your  tender  point, 
—your  two  tender  points,  if  you  have  them— shall 
be  safe,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned." 

Then  Hilda  is  appealed  to,  "a  slender,  brown- 
haired.  New  England  Puritan  girl,"  who  replies  : 

"Hush,  naughty  one;  you  are  very  ungrateful 
for  all  he  has  done  for  you." 

Mr.  Hawthorne  frankly  acknowledges  in  his 
preface    that  his  Kenyon  is  the    young    Boston 


168  BORDEE    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

sculptor,  then  in  Rome  making  his  great  statue 
of  Cleopatra,  in  the  old  studio  of  Canova,  whose 
genius  had  not  rendered  the  place  sacred,  but  only- 
interesting. 

That  identifies  him,  as  Mr.  William  Story,  who 
left  the  Boston  Bar,  after  writing  some  law  books, 
and  retired  from  the  great  position  inherited  there 
from  his  father,  who,  for  over  thirty  years  was 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  to  lead  the 
higher  life  of  poetry  and  art  in  Italy  ;  where,  in  his 
versatile  talent  of  doing  many  things  well,  he  has 
long  been  considered  our  best  representative  of  the 
highest  culture. 

His  statues  have  only  been  equalled  by  his 
poems,  and  those  only  by  his  paintings. 

Round  the  studio  of  that  young  artist  grew  up 
the  events  which  cluster  in  the  great  story  of  the 
Faun  ;  and  its  author  frankly  acklowledges  that  he 
made  many  other  studios  contribute  materials,  as 
he  says  in  his  preface  that  * '  he  laid  felonious  hands 
on  a  certain  bust  of  Milton,  and  a  statue  of  a 
pearl  diver,  which  he  found  in  the  studio  of  Mr. 
Paul  Akers,  and  thought  of  appropriating  some 
bronze  doors  of  Mr.  Randolph  Rogers,  and  Miss 
Hosmer's  admirable  statue  of  Zenobia,"  and  carry- 
ing them  off  to  decorate  Canova' s  old  den,  '^  in  the 
little  dirty  lane  near  the  Corso." 

There  sat  the  young  sculptor,  *'  throwing  stones  at 
Posterity,*'  as  he  said,  and  as  likely  to  hit  it  as 
anybody. 


THE    MARBLE    FAUN.  159 

He  *'had  a  face  whicli,  when  time  had  done  a 
little  more  for  it,  would  offer  a  worthy  subject  for 
as  good  an  artist  as  himself — an  ideal  forehead, 
deeply  set  eyes,  and  a  mouth  sensitive  and  delicate, 
but  much  hidden  in  a  light  brown  beard." 

There  Miriam  came  to  see  his  Cleopatra,  or 
rather  to  let  him  see  it,  as  she  was  evidently  the 
model  of  that  exalted  passion  of  undecorous  woman- 
hood, and  there  she  surprised  him  one  day  by 
peeping  into  his  ''  little  old-fashioned  ivory  box, 
richly  carved,  with  antique  figures  and  foliage.'' 

There,  **  lapped  in  fleecy  cotton,  lay  a  small, 
beautifully  shaped  hand,  most  delicately  sculptured 
in  marble." 

**  Ah,  this  is  very  beautiful,"  exclaimed  Miriam, 
**  it  is  as  good  as  Power's   famous  hand  with  its 
baby   dimples,   and  better  then  Harriet  Hosmer's 
clasped  hands  of  Browning  and  his  wife,  symboliz- 
ing the  heroic  union  of  two  high  poetic  lives  :  " 

'*  Do  you,  then,  recognize  it?"  asked  Kenyon. 

*'  Certainly,  there  is  but  one  hand  on  earth  that 
could  have  supplied  the  model,  so  delicate  and  yet 
with  so  much  character  and  energy. 

*'  I  did  not  dream  you  had  won  Hilda  so  far. 
How  have  you  persuaded  that  shy  maiden  to  let 
you  take  her  hand,  even  in  marble  ?" 

"Never!  She  never  knew  it,"  hastily  replied 
Kenyon,  "  I  stole  it.  The  hand  is  only  a  reminis- 
cence.    I  shall  never  win  her ! 

*'  Hilda  does  not  dwell  in  our  mortal  atmosphere, 


160  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

and  gentle  and  shy  as  she  appears,  it  will  be  as 
difficult  to  win  her  heart,  as  to  entice  down  one  of 
her  white  doves  from  its  freedom  in  the  sky.'' 

This  was  long  before  Du  Maurier  and  his  three 
English  artists  had  discovered  the  delicate  white 
foot  of  Trilby. 

To  get  above  the  squalor  and  disease  of  Rome, 
so  well  described  in  this  story,  the  author  had  to 
locate  Hilda  up  a  tower,  where  she  kept  the  eternal 
lamp  burning  before  the  Virgin's  shrine,  and 
where  **  the  other  doves  knew  her  for  a  sister,"  as 
he  said. 

And  what  a  frame  he  made  for  that  bright  picture 
in  the  rival  tower  of  Miriam's  studio  in  the  old 
Cardinal  Palace  on  one  side,  and  the  Owl  Tower 
and  grounds  of  the  young  Italian  count  on  the 
other,  in  the  Appenines,  where  his  noble  race,  from 
before  the  flood,  seemed  now  evolving  backwards 
to  the  dust  whence  it  came. 

That  pedigree  of  Monte  Beni  has  no  rival  in  the 
English  language,  as  back  of  Noah  the  heralds 
gave  up  the  lineage  in  despair,  as  it  ran  into  that 
gray  antiquity  of  which  there  is  no  token  left. 

**  There  grew  the  fig  tree  that  had  run  wild  and 
taken  to  wife  tbe  vine,  which  likewise  had  grown 
rampant  out  of  all  human  control,  so  that  the  two 
wild  things  had  tangled  and  knotted  themselves 
into  a  wild  marriage  bond,  and  hung  their  various 
progeny, — the  luscious  figs  and  grapes,  oozy  with 
the  southern  juice,  and  both  endowed  with  a  wild 


THE    MARBLE    FAUN.  161 

flavor  that  added  the  final  charm,— on  the  same 
bough  together."     ^    "^    ^ 

**  In  the  gush  of  the  small  stream  stood  a  marble 
nymph,  whose  nakedness  the  moss  had  kindly  cov- 
ered, and  the  long  tresses  of  the  maiden-hair  had 
done  what  they  could  in  the  poor  thing's  behalf,  by 
hanging  themselves  about  her  waist."     *    ^    ^^ 

*' Whether  woman  or  sprite  was  a  mystery,  ex- 
cept that  her  soul  and  life  were  interfused  through- 
out the  gushing  water.  She  was  a  cool,  fresh  and 
dewy  thing,  sunny  and  shadowy,  but  as  constant 
as  her  native  stream,  which  kept  the  same  gush 
and  flow  forever." 

This  sunny  nymph  used  to  become  a  rainbow  in 
the  fountain  and  then  suddenly  ''  gather  herself  up 
into  the  likeness  of  a  beautiful  girl,  laughing,— or 
was  it  the  warble  of  the  rill  over  the  pebbles  ?  " 

Then  as  the  young  knight  knelt,  ''to  drink  of 
the  spring,  a  pair  of  rosy  lips  came  up  out  of  its 
little  depth  and  touched  his  mouth  with  the  thrill 
of  a  sweet,  cool,  dewy  kiss  !  " 

But  when  he  tried  to  wash  his  hands  in  the 
stream,  ''there  was  a  sound  of  woe,  it  might  have 
been  a  woman's  voice,  it  might  have  "been  only  the 
sighing  of  the  brook  over  the  pebbles,  as  the  water 
shrank  away  from  his  hands  "  and  disappeared. 

From  this  exquisite  legend  sprang  the  story  of 
the  Faun,  and  that  young  sculptor  came  often  to 
kneel  at  that  spring,  and  to  drink  of  the  water  be- 
fore <5limbing  the  owl  tower,  to  see  the  landscape,. 


162  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

where  the  **  lakes  opened  their  blue  eyes  in  its 
face,  reflecting  heaven,  lest  mortals  should  forget 
that  better  land,  when  they  beheld  the  earth  so 
beautiful." 

From  its  height  "he  felt  a  strange  pull  at  his 
heartstrings,"  as  he  gazed  far  away  towards  Hilda's 
tower  in  Rome,  and  wished  for  the  white  wings  of 
a  dove,  that  he  might  have  flown  away  and  alighted 
at  the  Virgin's  shrine. 

Meantime  the  dark  beauty  of  Miriam  was 
already  flying  away  towards  this  mountain  shrine, 
where  he  held  Donatello  in  leash  ;  while  he  himself 
was  **  cherishing  a  love  which  insulated  him  from 
the  wild  experiences  which  some  men  gather." 

The  great  story  goes  back  to  the  Fountain  of 
Trevi  in  Rome,  and  its  shadows  in  the  troubled 
water  ;  and  then  on  to  the  great  black  cross  in  the 
centre  of  the  Coliseum,  where  more  human  agony 
has  been  endured  than  on  any  other  spot  on 
earth. 

An  inscription  there  promises  seven  years'  indul- 
gence, seven  years'  remission  of  the  pains  of  pur- 
gatory, and  earlier  enjoyment  of  heavenly  bliss, 
for  each  kiss  imprinted  on  that  black  cross. 

And  a  range  of  shrines  extends  around  it,  each 
commemoratinec  some  scene  of  the  Saviour's  life 
and  suffering,  and  a  custom  requires  each  pilgrim 
desiring  absolution,  to  make  the  entire  immense 
circle  on  his  knees,  saying  a  penitent's  prayer  at 
each  shrine. 


THE    MARBLE    FAUN.  163 

*'  There  are  sermons  in  stones,"  said  Hilda, 
**  and  especially  here  in  Rome." 

*'  Yes,"  said  Kenyon,  ''  and  after  middle  life, 
when  accumulated  sins  are  many,  and  the  remain- 
ing temptations  are  few,  what  better  could  one  do 
with  life,  than  to  spend  it  all  here  on  those  terms, 
in  kissing  the  black  cross  of  the  Coliseum  ! 

**It  was  foolish  of  Curtius  to  sacrifice  himself,  as 
all  Rome  has  gone  into  the  gulf  of  despair,  in  spite 
of  him!" 

On  returning  over  the  Capitoline  Hill,  the  sculp- 
tor had  expected  the  sweet  charge  of  escorting 
Hilda  alone  to  her  tower  ;  but  as  the  paths  divided 
at  a  gateway,  she  said, 

"  Miriam  has  something  to  tell  me,  some  sorrow 
she  needs  to  impart,"  and  quickly  left  him  to  join 
her  friend. 

The  sculptor  was  mortified,  and  a  little  angry, 
but  he  knew  Hilda's  gentle  decision  was  immov- 
able, and  he  therefore  allowed  that  fearless  maiden 
to  depart  alone. 

She  quietly  opened  the  gate  of  the  little  court^ 
yard,  and  was  startled  midway  by  the  noise  of  a 
struggle  within,  on  the  edge  of  the  Tarpeian  Rock, 
and  a  shrill  scream,  which  quivered  an  instant  in 
the  air  and  sank  downward  over  the  precipice. 

Poor  Hilda  had  looked  into  the  courtyard  and 
saw  the  whole  quick  passage  of  a  deed,  which  en- 
graved itself  on  her  soul,  as  her  first  actual  con- 
tact with  crime; 


164  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

Miriam  liad  committed  murder  by  approving, 
though  only  with  her  eyes,  the  mad  rush  of  Dona- 
tello  upon  his  hated  rival,  a  Capuchin  priest. 

**  Say  that  I  have  slain  him  against  your  will," 
said  Donatello,  ''  and  I  will  at  once  throw  myself 
beside  him  !" 

**  Oh,  never,  never,"  cried  Miriam,  as  the  gate 
slowly  closed  and  the  criminals  were  left  forever 
alone  with  their  guilt. 

That  terrible  secret  Hilda  only  revealed  at  the 
confessional,  after  that  sad  summer  in  Rome,  where 
her  suffering  for  another's  sin  tortured  her  almost 
to  madness,  with  the  conflict  of  betraying  her 
friend  to  human  justice,  or  of  leaving  her  to  the 
Divine  mercy.  It  seemed  as  if  the  awful  guilt 
were  her  own  of  keeping  it  hidden  in  her  heart,  as 
if  she  were  a  party  to  or  sharing  in  it. 

At  that  English  confessional  in  St.  Peter's,  she 
finally  poured  out  her  whole  terrible  secret  to  the 
kindly  cardinal,  then  Father  Newman,  who  had 
aided  her  to  see  the  old  Greek  Manuscripts,— and 
she  was  so  nearly  won  to  the  worship  of  Mary,  as 
to  exclaim  in  her  sorrow, 

**  Ah,  why  should  there  not  be  a  woman  in 
Heaven  to  listen  to  the  prayers  and  confessions  of 
women ;  a  mother  as  well  as  a  Father  in  Heaven  ? " 

And  when  offered  absolution  only  if  she  would 
reveal  also  the  names  of  the  guilty  persons,  she  ex- 
claimed, 

^*  No,  Father !  No  1    No  torture  shall  wring  that 


THE    MAEBLE    FAUN.  165 

from  me.     Only  God  can  forgive  my  sins ;  leave 
Providence  to  deal  with  them." 

"  Trust  a  girl's  simple  heart,  sooner  than  any 
casuist  of  your  church,  however  learned  he  may 
be!" 

**  Do  not  let  it  grieve  you,  if  I  never  return  to  the 
confessional.     I  am  a  daughter  of  the  Puritans  I  " 

As  she  received  the  blessing,  and  rose  to  depart, 
she  met  Kenyon  at  the  door,  who  had  witnessed  her 
transfiguration,  and  saw  it  now  again  as  her  inward 
delight  beamed  in  her  face. 

*'You  will  be  St.  Hilda,"  he  said,  "whatever 
church  may  canonize  you." 

**  Ah,  my  dear  friend,"  replied  Hilda,  '*try  to 
forgive  me,  if  you  deem  it  wrong,  because  it  has 
saved  my  reason,  and  made  me  happy  again.  Had 
you  been  here  yesterday,  I  would  have  confessed 
to  you." 

"  It  was  the  sin  of  others  that  drove  me  thither, 
not  my  own,  though  it  almost  seemed  so  by  my 
concealing  it" 

Then  they  walked  over  the  bridge  of  the  yellow 
Tiber,  and  in  the  exuberance  of  youth  and  happi- 
ness, Hilda  exclaimed  : 

*'  Let  us  find  that  lost  relic  of  the  Jews,  the  seven 
branched  golden  candlestick  from  Solomon's  Tem- 
ple, which  was  brought  here  in  the  time  of  Constan- 
tine,  and  lost  in  this  muddy  Tiber. 

"How  it  might  illuminate  the  world  if  it  were^ 
lighted  up  again. 


166  BOEDEE    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

"  Or  let  us  write  a  great  story,  to  be  called  the 
Seven  Sacred  Candlesticks,  a  sort  of  parable  or 
seven-armed  allegory,  full  of  poetry,  painting, 
sculpture,  architecture,  philosophy,  religion  and 
music,  giving  each  branch  a  different  color  and  set- 
ting, so  that  when  all  the  seven  are  kindled,  their 
radiance  shall  unite  and  combine  into  the  intense 
white  light  of  faith  and  truth  ! " 

**  Well,  Hilda,  that  is  a  magnificent  conception," 
cried  Kenyon,  **the  more  I  look  at  it  the  brighter 
it  burns." 

"So,  I  think,"  said  Hilda,  **but  it  seems  more 
suited  to  verse  than  prose." 

"When  I  go  home  to  America,  I  will  suggest  to 
seven  of  our  great  poets  that  they  shall  write  the 
poem  together,  each  lighting  a  separate  branch  of 
the  Sacred  Candlestick." 

"But  that  leaves  me  out,"  said  Kenyon. 

"Oh,  no!"  said  Hilda.  "You  shall  do  the 
sculpture  branch.  You  cannot  forget  Beacon  Street, 
though  you  are  trying  hard  to  do  so.  I  think  your 
poem  of  Cleopatra  is  better  than  the  statue." 

"  But  you  have  not  seen  it,  since  it  is  finished, 
and  now  you  are  really  going  home?" 

"Very  soon,  but  I  would  like  to  see  it  before  I 
go/' 

So  an  appointment  was  made,  and  before  its  time, 
Kenyon  had  modeled  for  her  a  beautiful  little 
statue  of  Maidenhood,  holding  a  snow-drop  to  her 
breast. 


THE    MARBLE    FAUN.  167 

**  O,  Genius,  though  canst  chain 
Not  marble  only,  but  the  human  soul, 
And  melt  the  heart  with  soft  control. 

And  wake  such  reverence  in  the  brain, 

That  man  may  be  forgiven 
If  in  the  ancient  days  he  dwelt 
Idolatrous,  with  sculptured  life,  and  knelt 

To  Beauty,  more  than  Heaven  !  " 

**  How  do  you  like  it  1 "  said  he  when  she  came. 

'*  I  think  it  is  exquisite,"  she  replied. 

"But  I  mean  the  Cleopatra,"  he  rejoined,  **if  I 
thought  it  a  mere  lump  of  senseless  stone,  which 
did  not  express  her  character,  I  should  like  to  hit 
her  Egytian  nose  a  bitter  blow  now  with  this 
mallet." 

*'  Don't  do  that,  it  will  get  blows  enough.  I  am 
ashamed  to  tell  you  how  perfect  it  is. 

**You  have  hit  Miriam's  figure  exactly.  You 
must  have  melted  her  into  a  mould,  or  packed  h  er 
alive  into  your  plaster,  and  it  seems  yet  fervid  to 
the  touch  with  her  fiery  life. 

**  You  feel  her  compressed  heat  and  passionate 
nature,  as  if  it  had  a  tiger-like  character,  even  in 
repose.  No  other  sculptor  could  have  done  it.  I 
would  say  to  artists,  as  Edward  Everitt  once  said 
to  the  law  students  at  Cambridge  : 

**  *  Climb  the  ladder  of  Fame,  gentlemen.  Climb 
as  high  as  you  can,  but  you  will  never  rise  above 
one  Story.'  " 

This  sweet  praise  pleased  Kenyon  greatly,  as  he 


168  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

replied  laughing,  "  But  did  you  ever  happen  to  hear 
my  father's  reply  to  that  sweet  flattery  ? " 

**0h,  yes/'  said  Hilda,  *' it  is  well  known,  and 
equally  good.  He  merely  said  quietly,  **  Eloquence 
is  honored  where  Everitt  goes." 

In  this  pleasant  intercourse  they  strolled  away  for 
their  farewell  walk  over  the  Pincian  Hill,  passed 
the  Eed  Egyptian  obelisk,  **  oldest  of  things  even 
in  Rome,"  and  stood  at  the  best  distant  view  of  St. 
Peter's,  and  the  tall  column  of  Antoninus,  bearing 
up  the  grand  statue  of  St.  Paul. 

There  the  last  word  was  said,  as  to  Miriam,  and 
what  a  terrible  thraldom  did  it  suggest. 

The  ruin  of  her  early  life  by  a  priest,  and  there- 
after free  as  she  seemed  to  be  in  Rome,  and  beggar 
as  he  looked  in  following  her  under  the  pretence  of 
being  a  model,  ''  that  nameless  vagrant  was  still  a 
power  in  the  church,  and  was  dragging  the  beauti- 
ful Miriam  through  the  streets,  fettered  and 
shackled  more  cruelly  than  any  captive  queen." 

That  iron  chain,  with  its  unyielding  links  around 
her  feminine  waist,  and  held  in  that  ruthless  hand, 
had  tortured  her  to  crime,  for  which  there  was  no 
earthly  tribunal  in  Rome  capable  of  justice. 

Only  God's  infinite  wisdom  and  mercy  can  deal 
properly  with  such  crimes. 

**Ah,"  said  Hilda,  "now  I  understand  how  the 
sins  of  generations  past  have  created  here  an  at- 
mosphere of  sin,  which  affects  all  who  follow. 

"Your  deed,  Miriam,  has  darkened  the  whole  sky." 


THE    MAEBLE    FAUN.  .         169 

'*  And  what  of  Donatello  ? "  said  Kenyon. 

**  Oh,  he  is  a  Faun,  you  know,  and  no  more  re- 
sponsible for  himself  than  a  goat." 

"Oh,  Hilda,  what  a  treasure  of  sweet  faith  and 
trust  you  hide  under  that  little  straw  hat  I  "  he  ex- 
claimed at  length. 

**A  Faun!  A  Faun!  Great  Pan  is  not  dead 
then  after  all ! 

**  The  whole  tribe  of  mystical  creatures  yet  live 
in  the  moonlight  seclusions  of  a  young  girl's  fancy, 
and  find  it  a  lovelier  abode,  doubtless,  than  their 
Arcadian  haunts  of  yore ! 

*' What  bliss,  if  a  man  of  marble  like  myself 
could  stray  thither,  too  !  " 

But  it  was  only  a  moonlight  fancy. 

Hilda  suddenly  disappeared  from  Home,  as  the 
story  narrates,  but  she  was  never  rescued  from  a 
convent  to  marry  Kenyon,  and  the  only  Sacred 
Heart  she  ever  knew  in  those  summers,  was  her  own, 
which  she  was  safely  keeping  for  a  young  college 
professor  in  the  West. 

Mr.  Ho  wells  has  written  in  his  youthful  pilgrim- 
age to  New  England  in  1860  thai  Emerson  then 
called  this  greatest  story  of  our  gifted  Hawthorne 
*'mere  mush,"  but  we  should  remember  that  it  was 
in  the  same  interview  in  which  he  spoke  of  Edgar 
A.  Foe,  as  *'the  jingle  man,"  and  that  the  wind 
was  probably  easterly  that  morning,  whereby  the 
bells  did  not  sound  well  in  that  region. 

Genius  builds  its  airy  castles  out  of  air,  by  throw- 


170  BORDEB    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

ing  in  a  few  clouds  and  sunshine  in  proper  pro- 
portions, and  mixing  them  up  **in  the  light  that 
never  was  on  sea  or  land." 

Out  of  a  young  sculptor  and  his  model,  and  a 
young  teacher  of  languages,  the  companion  of  his 
invalid  wife  and  daughter,  Mr.  Hawthorne  only 
needed  the  effete  Count  Donatello  to  exalt  them 
each  on  a  tower  into  the  upper  air,  and  fling 
around  them  the  fleecy  clouds  of  romance  to  pro- 
duce this  immortal  story,  a  classic  in  our  language, 
which  shall  endure  as  long  as  the  language  exists. 


Hilda's  eeturn.  171 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


HILDA'S    RETURN. 


But  she  was  now  to  return  from  the  Palace  and 
Court  to  the  little  cottage  in  the  West. 

The  great  steamer  Yanderbilt  was  to  arrive  in 
New  York  on  Saturday,  in  June  of  1859,  and  to  be 
there  to  welcome  her  ;  the  young  Professor  had  ac- 
cepted an  invitation  to  preach  there  on  the  follow- 
ing Sunday,  for  Dr.  Bellows.  Catherine  had  never 
heard  him  preach,  and  he  thought  it  would  be  a 
pleasant  surprise  and  a  great  day  for  himself. 

No  shadow  crept  into  his  sky  until  Saturday  af- 
ternoon began  to  wear  away,  bringing  no  word  of 
the  overdue  steamer.  At  the  headquarters  of  the 
company  on  Broadway  telegrams  came  up  from 
Sandy  Hook,   **  No  sign  of  the  Vanderbilt." 

The  evening  wore  away,  and  near  midnight  he 
went  to  his  hotel,  after  being  assured  that  the 
steamer  could  not  now  come  up  the  bay  before 
noon  of  the  next  day.  He  went  to  bed  somewhat 
disheartened  that  Catherine  could  not  be  there  to 
hear  his  sermon,  and  with  pleasant  thoughts  of  her 
was  soon  asleep. 

What  was  it  that  was  now  awake  within  him 
while  he  slept.     What  was  it  that,   with  no  con- 


172  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

scions  dream  or  vision,  yet  felt  her  approach  from 
out  of  the  depth  of  the  sea  and  knew  that  she  was 
nearer  than  he  believed  ?  What  was  it  that  im- 
[)elled  him,  with  no  dream,  no  restlessness,  no 
question,  to  spring  out  of  bed  at  four  o'clock,  ex- 
claiming, ''  She's  in  !     She's  in  !" 

There  was  no  hint  or  suggestion  given  him  from 
any  source  on  which  to  base  such  a  conclusion,  and 
it  seemed  foolish  to  dress  with  all  speed — not  for  a 
moment  doubting  the  impression  and  to  rush  away 
for  the  dock,  exclaiming  ''  She's  in  !     She's  in  ! " 

As  he  reached  the  Astor  House,  his  nearest  point 
of  information,  he  rushed  into  the  office,  exclaim- 
ing, ''Any  news  from  the  Yanderbilt?" 

*'  She's  just  coming  into  the  dock,  sir,"  politely 
answered  the  night  clerk. 

His  rapid  walk  was  not  arrested  until  he  reached 
the  end  of  the  long  wharf,  just  in  time  to  meet  the 
plank,  and  be  the  first  man  on  board. 

In  a  moment  he  stood  at  the  cabin  door,  where 
Catherine  sat  before  him,  talking  with  a  lady 
friend.  She  was  not  expecting  him  so  early,  and 
he  waited  till  she  lifted  her  eyes,  when  their  meet- 
ing was  impulsive  but  quiet  and  tranquil  as  though 
they  had  parted  but  a  day  before. 

But  why  was  it  that  the  Sunday  service  and  the 
sermon  seemed  to  him  now  of  small  moment,  not 
even  worth  mentioning  to  Catherine,  by  no  means 
worth  her  attending  ? 

A  carriage  hurried   them  away  to  their  early 


173 


breakfast,  and  she  to  her  forenoon's  rest,  as  she 
was  tired  of  the  ship  and  its  all-night  watchfulness, 
while  he  was  gone,  she  knew  not  where.  But  in 
the  night  train  for  Boston  were  two  souls  that 
seemed  to  have  but  one  thought  and  no  need  of 
sleep. 

"  Whither  ?     Together 
Then,  no  matter  whither." 

Their  quiet  conversation  was  too  low  to  disturb 
the  peace  of  others,  and  there  was  no  kindly  mat- 
ron of  the  Ladies'  College  to  interrupt  them  again, 
and  it  seemed  to  them  to  be  but  one  brief  hour  of 
bliss,  ere  they  were  in  Boston,  and  the  sea-battered 
trunks  were  piled  on  the  piazza  of  the  old  Eliot 
house  on  the  heights  of  Dorchester. 

They  were  there  soon  married,  and  the  college 
welcomed  them  anew,  as  they  entered  on  their 
united  life. 

They  seemed  to  have  reached  the  end  of  a  long 
and  stormy  voyage,  and  to  be  sailing  into  a  haven 
of  perfect  peace.  Friends  were  about  them.  Hap- 
piest occupation  with  its  varied  activities  made  the 
days  speed  by  like  twinkling  rays.  Honored, 
praised,  envied,  the  conflicts  of  youth  and  child- 
hood triumphantly  passed,  they  seemed  to  have  all 
that  heart  could  ask.  Their  pretty  cottage  at  Beth- 
lehem was  bowered  in  honeysuckles  and  roses,  plain 
and  white  and  unshaded  without  and  within,  a  place 
where  purity  dwelt  and  diligent  activity  quietly 
labored. 


174  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

That  scliolarly  toil  commonly  involves  too  small 
an  element  of  self-sacrifice  to  be  in  itself  a  sanctified 
thing.  To  become  such  and  to  be  made  itself  a 
source  of  spiritual  life,  it  must  go  hand-in-hand 
vrith  self-denial,  as  when  scholars  in  poverty  thrust 
aside  the  solicitation  to  divert  their  powers  to  a 
worldly  service,  seeking  affluence  or  wealth. 

She  was  all  that  he  had  dreamed,  full  of  truth 
and  tenderness,  gentle,  loving,  unselfish,  and  brim- 
ming over  with  kindliest  impulse  and  wisest  ac- 
tivity. 

How  imperfectly  they  as  yet  understood  that 
when  two  love  each  other  so  unselfishly,  when  they 
truly  live  for  each  other  they  have  so  become  one, 
that  they  are  in  truth  but  living  for  themselves, 
and  that  their  reflected  affection  presently  so  re- 
sembles self-love  as  to  become  a  source  of  real  peril 
unless  it  merge  itself  in  something  higher. 

Parentage  is  the  marvelous  experience  which 
transforms  the  love  of  husband  and  wife  into  some- 
thing higher  and  nobler. 

.Life  cannot  be  sustained  simply  by  pleasure. 
Brief  is  the  season  of  bloom,  of  bird  songs  and  be- 
ginnings, but  far  deeper  and  more  abiding  joys 
come  with  the  autumn  fruits,  when  leaves  are 
withered  and  the  corn  is  bruised  under  the  flail. 

The  joy  of  motherhood  is  one  of  the  real  things 
that  makes  many  false  things  flee.  It  was  a  reve- 
lation now  to  Catherine  when,  within  two  years  of 
her  wedding  day,  she  one  day  found  herself  weep- 


175 


ing  as  she  sat  in  their  pleasant  cottage  alone  before 
a  charming  wood  fire.  She  was  so  astonished  at  her 
tears  because  she  could  not  tell  why  they  fell. 

*' What  Hast  Thou  Bone?"  was  her  husband's 
text  for  that  day.  His  preaching  had  deeply  im- 
pressed Catherine  already. 

She  herself  spoke  with  a  quiet  fervor  which  her 
modesty  always  underestimated.  In  her  lectures, 
in  an  occasional  address  now  and  then  to  the  girls 
of  the  school,  or  before  the  Ladies'  Society,  her 
quiet  and  sincere  speech,  her  earnest  purpose,  her 
deep  womanliness  made  a  far  more  profound  im- 
pression than  she  was  aware  of,  on  women  and  on 
men  alike. 

But  this  sermon  had  touched  her  heart.  She 
looked  forward  to  it  with  keen  interest  and  con- 
cealed the  pain  she  felt  because  he  usually  mulled 
the  sermons  in  secret ;  thought  them  out  while  the 
chips  were  flying  from  his  axe  in  the  woods,  and 
unconsciously  kept  it  all  to  himself. 

He  began  quietly  to  sketch  the  scene  as  Christ 
stood  before  Pilate.      *'  What  hast  thou  done  'M  • 

The  Roman  Empire,  triumphant  over  the  known 
world,  asked  the  question  of  a  humble  teacher  from 
Galilee.  What  had  he  done  ?  Nothing,  as  yet. 
What  had  not  that  Roman  Empire  done— at  least 
in  the  opinion  of  Pilate  ?  What  had  it  done— in 
facti 

In  a  few  minutes  the  scene  was  shifted  to  the 
Middle     Ages.    What    now    had    either    done? 


176  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

Where  was  Rome?  What  had  she  done?  What 
was  God  in  Christ  now  doing?  Had  Pilate's  arro- 
gant pride  overlooked  the  little  shadow  no  larger 
than  a  man's  hand,  which  in  his  day  showed  itself 
in  Rome's  northern  horizon? 

Having  pictured  the  high  call  of  Christ  to  each 
individual  heart,  he  turned  the  eyes  of  each  hearer 
with  searching  self-scrutiny  upon  his  own  life. 
What  hast  thou  done?  Christ  Jesus  demands 
now  thine  own  heart,  and  will  urge  this  question 
hereafter,  again  and  again, —  What  hast  thou  done? 

The  earnestness  of  the  preacher,  his  searching 
voice,  his  glowing  eyes,  were  making  an  almost 
painful  tension  in  the  audience,  when  he  diverted 
the  strain,  and  described  the  service  rendered  by 
some  simple,  pure-minded  girl,  all  whose  life  had 
been  a  ceaseless  benediction  to  all  who  beheld  her. 
None  were  called  upon,  he  said,  to  do  more  than 
they  could  do.  The  devoutly  obedient  found  it 
true  that  the  yoke  was  easy  and  the  burden  light, 
and  he  concluded  by  picturing  the  pathos  of  the 
scene  when  the  Master  looked  lovingly  on  the  self- 
sacrificing  woman,  and  said  with  the  divine  accep- 
tance of  a  perfect  satisfaction,  *'She  hath  done 
what  she  could  I" 

She  suddenly  felt  as  though  he  was  saying  it 
of  her,  and  in  truth  he  was.  She  seemed  to  him  to 
be  an  ideal  woman,  and  he  well  knew  the  change 
for  her  was  very  great  from  the  Palaces  of  Rome 
to  the  Rose  Cottage  in  the  woods. 


TTNIVEBSITY 
HILDA'S    RETURN.  T*^£^ 

Catherine  now  enjoyed  nothing  else  so  much  as 
being  out  in  the  woods  with  her  husband.  She 
was  not  aware  that  she  was  getting  tired  of  books 
and  of  teaching,  but  she  did  find  a  keen  delight  in 
getting  away  from  the  sight  of  the  College  and 
watching  something  of  his  woodcraft.  She  had 
learned  to  shoot  with  the  rifle,  and  she  could  tell  a  tu- 
lip tree  from  a  maple  by  glancing  at  the  bark. 

It  was  in  the  early  Autumn  as  they  thus  walked 
on  the  edge  of  the  forest,  she  called  his  attention 
to  some  animaPs  burrow,  asking,  **  What  is  that  ?  " 

*'Ah!  "  he  replied,  *'Mr.  Woodchuckis  at  home. 
See  all  those  happy  flies  coming  out  of  the  hole  ? 
They  have  just  been  nestling  about  the  nose  of  Mr. 
Woodchuck,  until,  hearing  our  footsteps,  he  with- 
drew into  winter  quarters." 

"But  mercy  !  What  is  this  ?  "  she  said,  when  they 
had  gone  a  few  steps  further.  Five  dead  mice  lay 
in  a  curious  pile,  and  soon  she  saw  three  more, 
then  seven  more.  Some  little  mouser  had  been 
bringing  these  spoils  from  the  prairie. 

Glancing  about,  he  saw  that  a  hollow  tree  had 
been  felled  probably  as  a  bee  tree,  and  left  sloping 
from  its  high  stump  down  to  the  ground.  Step- 
ping quickly  to  it,  he  beckoned  to  Catherine.  Five 
little  foxes,  impatiently  expecting  the  mother's 
return,  had  crept  somewhat  too  near  the  open  door 
of  their  sloping  house,  and  there  they  lay,  five 
beautiful  little  creatures,  just  old  enough  to  be 
weaned.    It  was  to  provide  for  this  maternal  duty 


178  BORDER    LANDS    OP    FAITH. 

that  Mrs.  Fox  had  been  fetching  in  from  the  prairie 
mouthful  after  mouthful  of  field  mice,  the  deposit 
of  which  Catherine  had  found.  The  brighest  of 
the  little  ones  was  soon  in  her  hands,  and  when  she 
had  soothed  its  fears,  she  rolled  it  up  in  the  corner 
of  her  cloak  and  tucked  it  under  her  arm  when  as 
she  stroked  it,  it  began  to  purr  like  a  contented 
little  kitten.  Catherine  quickly  pressed  it  to  her 
heart,  as  there  burst  out  close  to  them  the  clear,  quick 
bark  of  Mrs.  Fox.  Both  were  startled,  and  gazed 
intently  in  the  direction  of  the  sound,  until  sud- 
denly, sharp  and  clear,  again  it  broke  out  right  be- 
hind them.  They  turned  quickly  but  could  see 
nothing,  till  at  last  detecting  the  trick,  lie  glanced 
back  to  the  former  direction  and  soon  saw  the 
mother  fox,  and  called  Catherine's  attention  to  her 
tactics. 

She  would  run  close  to  the  ground,  almost  in- 
visible in  the  light  grass,  until  finding  a  log  or  a 
stump  which  might  just  meet  her  need,  she  would 
hide  behind  it,  laying  her  thin  head  flat  on  top  and 
keenly  scrutinize  the  enemy  that  held  her  camp. 
After  a  moment's  observation,  she  would  give  a 
sharp  yelp  and  instantly  disappear.  Running  now 
partly  round  the  circle,  she  would  dart  up  another 
stump  or  stone  in  the  same  way,  seeing,  but  herself 
unseen,  her  bark  breaking  out  always  from  some 
unexpected  quarter. 

In  a  few  moments  a  hoarser  yelp,  farther  away, 
revealed  Mr.  Fox,  more  visible,  but  keeping  his 


HILDA'S    EETUEN.  179 

prudent  hide  at  a  safer  distance.  He  presently  dis- 
appeared, while  the  mother's  anxiety  brought  her 
nearer  and  nearer,  and  kept  up  her  ceaseless  circuit 
until  Catherine's  compassion  broke  out,  as  she  said, 
''Poor  thin^,  how  unhappy  we  are  making  her  !  " 

"  Don't  you  think  we  might  have  one  or  two  of 
the  kittens? "  he  asked.  "Do  you  suppose  mother 
fox  can  count  five  T' 

"I  know  she  can,"  said  Catherine.  ''She's  a 
true  mother,  and  we  must  go  right  away  and  end 
her  distress.     We  must  not  touch  them  !  " 

Her  little  purring  pet  was  quickly  restored  to  its 
place  in  the  litter— the  mother's  bark  had,  indeed, 
stopped  its  purring,  and  the  two  college  professors 
went  home  happier  and  wiser.  As  they  walked 
thus  in  the  twilight,  Catherine  proposed  that  they 
should  give  notice  of  their  intended  resignation  at 
the  end  of  the  college  year,  and  that  he  should  seek 
a  pulpit  in  New  England. 

"A  pulpit,"  he  said,  "why,  I  am  not  a  member 
of  any  church  I  " 

He  was  much  in  doubt  as  to  his  ever  being  fit  or 
ready  for  such  a  work.  Catherine,  he  felt,  was 
made  for  a  minister's  wife.  The  duties  would  ex- 
actly suit  her.  But  as  for  himself,  he  had  never 
joined  any  church,  nor  assented  to  any  creed,  nor 
avowed  any  theory,  while  his  loyalty  to  Christ  as 
the  one  conspicuous  centre  of  the  world's  religious 
activities,  was  the  only  tie  that  seemed  to  hold  fast 
in  an  age  of  increasing  scepticism. 


180  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

They  discussed  the  question  of  the  resignation 
and  the  pastorate,  Catherine  feeling  more  ready  for 
it  than  her  husband  was,  till  the  debate  seemed  to 
be  abruptly  ended,  before  Christmas,  by  his  receiv- 
ing a  formal  invitation  from  a  wealthy  church,  in 
one  of  the  best  of  New  England's  cities,  to  become 
its  pastor.  She  again  had  prepared  him  a  great 
surprise. 

He  had  preached  there  a  few  times  during  the 
summer  vacation,  feeling  himself  very  unworthy  to 
stand  in  so  honored  a  place,  but  Catherine  felt  that 
no  man  was  ever  more  worthy,  and  her  heart  leapt 
up  on  his  receiving  the  call.  She  knew  the  usual 
rule  to  consider  such  things  providential,  and  for 
herself  she  accepted  it  at  once,  and  she  could  not 
but  wonder  that  he  should  hesitate  about  it. 

It  made  him  silent  and  even  sad.  The  scruples 
that  restrained  him  Catherine  could  not  share. 
She  did  not  know  that  Emerson  had  retired  from 
the  pulpit  from  similar  scruples.  That  he  should 
have  any  doubts  of  anything  filled  her  with  aston- 
ishment. It  was  wholly  vain  to  discuss  with  her, 
questions  of  Christology.  In  her  experience  there 
was  yet  nothing  that  could  interpret  them,  and  she 
knew  better  than  he  did  that  such  a  church  in  New 
England  then  demanded  of  its  Ministers  no  Christ- 
ology at  all. 

**  Why  of  course  you  must  accept  it,"  she  said, 

"No,  dear,''  he  said.  *'I  cannot.  Don't  you 
see,  Catherine,  I  have  no  theory  of  Christianity  ? " 


Hilda's  return.  181 

She  laughed  lightly,  as  she  answered,  **  But  why 
do  you  need  a  theory  ?  You  have  the  thing  itself, 
the  fact,  the  habit  of  doing  justly,  of  loving  mercy, 
and  walking  humbly  before  Gfod." 

**But  Plato  had  all  that,  and  Confucius,  and 
they  were  not  Christians.  No,  no,  dear !  He  that 
doeth  righteousness  is  accepted  of  God,  no  doubt. 
But  in  Christianity  there  is  a  power,  an  influence, 
I  know  not  what,  which  Paganism  never  had.  It 
wakes  enthusiasm,  it  supports  hope  of  future  life, 
it  glorifies  suffering,  it  transforms  death,  it  tram- 
ples sin  under  its  feet.  What  is  that  1  Whence 
comes  it  ?" 

**  It  comes,  I  have  been  told,  from  fanaticism. 
Have  not  the  Buddhists  all  that  ?  " 

**  Have  they  ?  They  have  part  of  it.  They  have 
the  fanaticism.  They  have  the  power  to  defy 
death.  But  it  is  in  truth  despair,  not  hope,  that 
seems  to  defy  what  its  misery  really  seeks.  There 
is  no  constructive  power  in  Asia.  There  is  no 
future  for  its  civilization  unless  Christ  first  touch 
their  eyes  that  they  may  see  that  our  civilization 
does  rest  on  Christ. 

"  Good  as  the  best  pagans  are,  there  is  something 
lacking  of  that  pure  and  peaceful  faith,  and  life 
shown  to  us  in  a  Fenelon  or  a  Channing,  which 
comes  from  Christ,  and  comes  from  him  alone.  A 
personal  relation  with  the  Saviour,  with  all  the 
hopes  that  that  alone  can  bring,  gives  that  treasure 
which  makes   the  humblest  Christian  rich,   and 


182  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

the  lack  of  which,  leaves  even  a  divine  Plato  poor." 

^*  What  is  Christ?  "  said  Catherine  almost  impa- 
tiently. 

"Ah,  that  is  just  the  question,"  said  he.  **  You 
come  to  the  heart  of  the  matter  now.  We  cannot 
answer  that  question." 

"  Well,  I  don't  see  why  you  should  try.  It  seems 
to  me  people  have  talked  about  it  a  great  deal  too 
much  already." 

**  Catherine,"  he  said  presently,  **  is  there  any 
worship  in  that  Unitarianism  ? " 

**  Why,  what  do  you  mean,  dear  ?  "  she  said. 

'*  It  would  be  delightful,  wouldn't  it,  if  we  could 
go  to  this  pleasant  church  ?  One  sermon  on  Sun- 
day, no  prayer-meetings,  a  charming,  refined 
people,  a  pleasant  home,  with  Boston  and  Heaven 
60  near." 

**I  think  it  would  be  pleasant,"  she  innocently 
answered. 

'*  Catherine,"  he  said,  **  there  is  no  real  service 
or  self-sacrifice  in  it.  It  is  enjoyment.  It  is  a 
Bweet,  and  pure,  and  high  self-indulgence.  The 
Cross  looks,  of  course,  toward  an  unutterable  joy 
and  glory,  but  Grethsemane  and  Calvary  come 
first." 

"What  has  that  to  do  with  Boston  pulpits ? " 

"The  Cross?  Not  much,  but  all  city  churches, 
the  world  over,  seem  to  be  trying  to  hire  somebody 
to  do  the  worship,  to  take  the  service  and  render 
the  sacrifice  for  them.    They  have  only  to  pay  the 


183 


pew  rent  and  they  are  saved !  In  some  of  them, 
even  the  form  of  joining  the  church  is  only  to  go  to 
the  sexton  and  hire  a  pew,  like  buying  a  lot  in  a 
graveyard,  and  that  entitles  them  to  vote  in  all  its 
business  affairs  and  management." 

**  You're  not  really  going  to  refuse  the  call !  " 

'*Iam.     I  must." 

**  Then  what  higher  duty  can  you  find  to  do  ? " 

**  I  am  going  to  the  war !  " 

Catherine's  lips  parted,  and  she  looked  up,  at 
first  with  a  startled  incredulity,  but  she  saw  that 
he  meant  what  he  said  and  her  heart  sank  within 
her. 

She  reflected  long  in  silence  and  sadness,  before 
she  answered,  '*  Well,  if  you  go  to  the  war,  I  shall 
go  with  you." 

And  he  knew  that  she  meant  what  she  said.  She 
always  did. 


184  BORDEK    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  SWORD  OF  BUNKER  HILL. 

I  hear  the  footsteps  of  approaching  days, 
I  see  their  glory  and  would  sing  their  praise  ; 
But  chains  are  clanking  on  Columbia's  coast ; 
The  Muses  mourn  their  ancient  grandeur  lost  ; 
And  bow  in  tears  before  the  "  privileged  wrong,* 
Till  nobler  freedom  called  for  nobler  song. 
Then  some  high  Muse  to  future  days  shall  tell 
How  Freemen  armed  for  war  when  Sumner  fell. 

The  cyclone  came  at  last.  That  noble  appeal  of 
Daniel  Webster  to  both  sides,  for  peace  and  further 
forbearance  tiad  borne  no  fruit  but  his  own  utter 
discomfiture  and  downfall,  and  his  only  son  Flet- 
cher had  died  in  the  field,  as  Colonel  of  a  Massa- 
chusetts Regiment,  in  almost  the  first  battle,  in  at- 
tempting to  redeem  that  noble  name. 

His  successor  had  been  assailed  in  the  Senate 
Chamber  with  a  club,  and  the  bully  who  carried  it 
allowed  to  walk  away  alive  to  tell  the  tale. 

The  great  sun-kissed  flag  of  freedom,  the  emblem 
of  liberty  and  American  independence,  had  been 
fired  upon  by  South  Carolina,  and  more  than  a 
million  of  men  were  now  arming  for  its  defense. 


THE    SWORD    OF    BUNKER    HILL.  185 

The  great  heart  of  the  North,  slow  to  anger,  yet 
intelligent  and  patriotic,  was  roused  at  last,  and 
Abraham  Lincoln's  second  call  for  volunteers,  to 
put  down  the  great  slaveholders'  rebellion,  was 
answered  by  the  ringing  shout  from  Maine  to  Cali- 
fornia : 

"  We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham, 
Five  hundred  thousand  strong." 

Every  college  in  the  land,  North  and  South  alike, 
sent  its  full  quota  of  men,  in  the  flower  of  youth, 
into  that  terrible  war.  Scores  of  western  colleges, 
like  Antioch,  Oberlin  and  Hiram  had  not  a  student 
left,  above  the  preparatory  school,  after  1861,  for 
four  years. 

Garfleld  of  Hiram  was  promptly  met  by  Horace 
Mann  of  Antioch,  in  forming  a  Regiment ;  but, 
alas,  among  the  first  misfortunes  of  those  exciting 
times  was  the  loss  of  the  great  Educator  himself. 

Cyrus  Christie,  returning  from  Childwold,  was 
made  captain  of  a  select  company  of  sharpshooters, 
which  he  named  the  Adirondack  Rangers,  and  the 
Professor  of  Logic  formed  a  similar  company,  with 
his  two  younger  brothers,  Nick  and  Jo,  as  Lieu- 
tenants, who  were  then  mere  boys,  not  half  way 
through  college,  and  they  took  their  honors  in  high 
degree,  in  four  years  of  active  service  in  war. 

But  the  great  Educator  was  a  man  of  peace,  who 
had  never  contemplated  the  actual  drawing  of  a 
sword,  nor  the  firing  of  a  gun,  and  the  excitement 


186  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

of  this  new  life,  and  the  apparent  frustration  and 
loss  of  all  his  fondest  hopes,  had  overpowered  his 
sensitive  nature,  and  a  slight  cold  rapidly  developed 
pneumonia,  and  in  a  week  he  was  borne  to  his 
grave,  under  the  grand  mausoleum  which  since 
marks  his  resting-place  on  that  noble  college  lawn. 

His  Regiment  was  consolidated  into  two  com- 
panies of  the  Eighth  Ohio  Cavalry,  which  have 
told  their  own  story  in  the  field. 

But  beware  of  tender  ties,  if  you  aspire  to  deeds 
of  noble  heroism,  for  you  will  be  either  more  or 
less  than  man,  if  they  do  not  compel  you  to  pru- 
dence. 

Just  as  that  Regiment  was  leaving  for  the  front, 
came  a  telegram  from  the  President  of  the  Sanitary 
Commission  in  New  York,  to  Catherine,  saying : 
'*Yonrself  and  husband  are  needed  at  once  for 
important  posts,  together,  in  this  Commission,' ' 
and  the  same  day  a  letter  from  the  Professor's 
venerable  mother,  on  the  Honeoye,  saying:  *'You 
and  Catherine  are  appointed  to  important  places 
in  New  York,  and  must  spend  a  week  with  me 
here,  on  your  way,  as  you  may  never  see  me 
again." 

It  was  evidently  Catherine' s  hand  again,  and  the 
Professor  realized  anew  that  his  head  was  not  en- 
tirely his  own,  and  that  Minerva  was  the  Gfoddess 
of  both  Wisdom  and  War. 

They  had  been  married  three  years  when  she  said 
she  would  go  with  him  to  the  war,  and  she  evi- 


THE    SWORD    OF    BUNKER    HILL.  187 

dently  had  no  intention  now  of  being  left  behind 
alone. 

That  Ohio  Cavalry  went  out  short  of  one  Captain, 
thus  providing  an  early  promotion  for  one  of  its 
lieutenants,  and  away  sped  Minerva  and  her  hus- 
band for  the  sylvan  shades  of  the  Honeoye,  which 
she  had  never  yet  visited. 

The  old  country  stage  coach  at  Rochester  soon 
rolled  them  away  fifteen  miles  southerly,  to  the  old 
home  in  Mendon,  where  they  met  a  royal  welcome. 

Catherine's  good  name  and  fame  had  long  been 
known  there,  but  as  Eliza's  dark  eyes  now  looked 
upon  her  for  the  first  time,  their  hearts  were  melted 
with  mutual  satisfaction  and  happiness,  and  their 
tears  flowed  freely  together. 

Katie  was  also  there,  her  husband  having  already 
gone  to  the  front  as  Major  of  the  Second  Rochester 
Regiment,  and  Minerva  had  already  a  large  ma- 
jority on  her  side. 

The  Professor  left  them  together,  while  he  took 
a  stroll  to  look  again  upon  his  loved  Honeoye,  and 
to  greet  a  few  old  friends  in  the  village  ;  and  when 
he  returned,  after  dark,  he  thought  as  he  stepped 
on  the  porch,  the  house  seemed  strangely  still, 
when  the  tongues  of  three  so  vigorous  women  were 
there  together  for  the  first  time. 

He  soon  understood  the  silence.  The  sound  of 
his  footstep  had  caused  it,  as  a  moment's  suspense 
followed  his  merry  greeting,  and  then  his  mother 
solemnly  said  at  once  : 


188  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

"My  dear  boy,  I  have  now  four  sons  in  tlie 
army,  including  Katie's  husband,  and  you  know- 
none  of  them  are  cowards,  and  you  are  all  I  have 
left  to  depend  upon  in  my  old  age,  if  they  should 
be  cut  off.  We  know  not  how  long  this  war  may 
last,  and  it  seems  certain  to  be  a  most  terrible  one, 
where  many  thousand  precious  lives  must  be  sacri- 
ficed.    Do  you  not  think  we  are  doing  our  share  ?  " 

*'We  cannot  do  too  much  in  such  a  cause, 
mother,"  he  replied,  *'and  you  certainly  do  not 
expect  me  to  appear  to  be  the  only  coward  in  the 
family,  when  my  grandfather  and  your  own  were 
honored  soldiers  of  the  Kevolution,  which  gained 
our  liberties  and  independence?" 

"No,  no,  my  son,  it  is  not  that ;  no  one  will  ever 
dare  to  think  you  a  coward,  but  you  are  the  only 
one  of  my  sons  who  is  married,  and  we  women 
must  have  some  rights  in  such  cases.  Catherine 
has  confided  in  me,  and  it  seems  plain  to  us  all 
that  you  should  not  be  separated  at  this  time,  lest 
your  own  son  may  be  deprived  of  a  father's  care." 

He  was  silenced,  and  glancing  at  Catherine,  saw 
that  her  face  flushed  and  her  eyes  fell  as  they  never 
did  before  on  meeting  his.  He  was  completely  out- 
generaled, and  both  flanked  and  surrounded  ;  his 
first  campaign  was  a  failure,  and  he  was  already 
wounded  and  taken  prisoner. 

But  he  remembered  the  definition  of  strategy, 
which  Old  Put  had  just  sent  home,  as  received 
from  one  of  his  Irish  soldiers  at  Harper's  Ferry. 


THE    SWORD    OF    BUNKER    HILL.  189 

"  Och,"  he  said,  ''  it's  grand  strategy  just  to  kape 
on  firin'  so  as  not  to  let  the  inimy  know  ye' re  all 
out  of  amunishun." 

So  he  rallied  and  finally  said,  **  Well,  mother, 
if  Old  Put  falls,  I  shall  certainly  go  at  once  and 
take  his  place." 

They  were  silent,  but  seeing  that  it  gave  time, 
said  *'  Well,  let  us  hope  that  time  will  never  come, 
but  it  may  do  to  consider  it  when  it  does." 

Old  Put  had  been  admitted  to  the  bar  in  New 
York  City,  and  his  first  great  case  was  that  of  the 
South  against  the  North,  which  he  was  then  argu- 
ing in  Virginia  as  Captain  in  an  Irish  Regiment  re- 
tained for  the  defence. 

His  graduating  part  at  Cambridge  had  contained 
the  lines  which  head  this  chapter,  and  soon  after, 
while  in  the  Law  School  there,  he,  with  a  group  of 
students,  had  assisted  in  the  great  Boston  Riot, 
which  unchained  the  Court  House  and  rescued 
from  Ben  Butler,  then  United  States  District  At- 
torney, and  his  sheriff's  posse  of  Marshalls,  the 
fugitive  slave,  Robert  Burns,  and  hid  him  in  the 
cellar  of  Theodore  Parker  until  the  underground 
railroad  carried  him  safely  away  to  freedom  in 
Canada, 'while  the  Marshals  were  searching  in  vain 
the  house  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  to  find  him. 

The  bright  name  of  that  poor  black  slave  from 
Maryland,  doubtless  given  him  by  some  gentleman 
there,  had  proved  his  salvation,  as  it  kindled  the 


190  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

enthusiasm  of  those  students,  and  they  made  the 
whole  country  ring  with  it. 

Old  Put  had  written  for  the  Boston  Press  his 
sentiments  of  that  affair,  and  they  all  believed  his 
sword  would  prove  true  to  his  words,  as  follows  : 

THE   BURNS    RESCUE. 

There's  a  sign  in  the  times,  there's  a  wild  thrilling  cry, 
That  swells  from  the  earth,  and  is  echoed  on  high, 
From  the  souls  of  our  sires  who  for  liberty  bled. 
When  Freedom  inspired  and  Washington  led. 

Shall  Liberty  die  on  the  hills  of  Tremont, 
Where  Warren's  warm  blood  was  its  baptismal  font  ? 
Shall  the  cradle  of  Freedom  be  also  her  grave. 
And  the  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill  rest  on  a  slave  ? 

There*s  a  conflict  of  laws,  and  slave-minions  combine, 
With  the  statutes  of  sin  to  oppose  the  Divine, 
And  the  thunders  of  Sinai  again  should  be  hurled. 
Giving  death  to  oppression,  and  law  to  the  world. 

There's  a  time  when  allegiance  ceases  to  bind. 
And  a  higher  than  human  law  guides  the  free  mind, 
'Tis  when  might  murders  right  and  the  government's  nod 
Demands  of  our  hearts  what  is  treason  to  God. 

Then  rebellion  is  duty  ;  we  welcome  its  dawn, 
Though  our  blood  wash  in  hope-drowning  rivers  the  sod 
We  will  welcome  the  gleaming  of  every  sword  drawn. 
That  can  strike  for  the  right,  for  truth,freedom  and  God. 


THE    SWOED    OF    BUNKER    HILL.  191 

Then  be  true  to  the  dream  in  which  young  hope  began 

And  have  faith  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  Truth  ; 
Trust  in  God,  but  not  blindly,  to  perfect  your  plan. 
While  you  trust  like  a  child,  you  must  strike  like  a  man, 
And  live  up  to  the  destiny-dream  of  thy  youth. 

**Now,''  said  Catherine  eagerly,  **we  will  join 
the  Sanitary  Commission  at  once,  after  a  week's 
rest  in  this  delightful  place." 

Katie  had  some  picnic  tents  in  which  they  began 
a  tent  life  immediately,  to  get  used  to  it,  by  camp- 
ing out  on  the  wooded  shore  of  the  beautiful  Hem- 
lock Lake  in  Livonia,  whose  clear  waters  have  been 
since  utilized  for  the  great  water  works  of  Roch- 
ester. 

It  was  then  a  scene  of  perfect  woodland  repose, 
with  not  a  house  in  sight,  except  a  fisherman's  cot- 
tage a  mile  away,  across  the  Lake,  from  which  an 
old  Scotchman  and  his  two  little  girls  rowed  over 
every  morning  to  bring  them  fresh  milk  and  other 
supplies  for  the  rustic  table. 

With  Eliza  and  Katie  in  a  second  large  tent,  and 
no  other  companion  but  a  good  collie  dog,  Dona- 
tello,  they  seemed  to  have  realized  again  the  earth]  y 
Paradise. 

That  good  dog  was  a  novel  wedding  present  to 
Catherine,  which  had  been  left  at  Honeoye  for  safe 
keeping,  and  he  now  remembered  his  old  master 
with  redoubled  affection. 

He  was  a  constant  pleasure  and  source  of  rest  and 


192  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

security  to  the  little  family,  and  he  contributed  his 
full  share  to  the  happiness  and  fun.  Bat  he  made 
a  sensation  on  the  following  Sunday  when  the  pro- 
fessor went  to  preach  in  his  father's  old  pulpit  in 
Mendon.  Catherine  supposed  that  Don  had  re- 
mained at  the  camp,  but  Don  had  his  own  ideas,  and 
in  the  midst  of  the  first  prayer,  in  he  walked,  sniffing 
at  the  rail,  as  if  coming  to  take  part  in  the  service. 

Straight  to  the  platform  he  went,  smelt  the  steps 
at  the  right,  knew  that  his  master  had  not  gone  up 
by  them,  and  crossed  over  to  the  other  flight,  then 
up  the  five  steps  he  came,  and  halting  at  the  top, 
lifted  his  paw  and  pointed  at  his  master,  as  though 
he  had  been  a  partridge  up  a  tree,  and  wagging  his 
tail  looked  smilingly  at  the  congregation,  as  if  he 
were  saying,  **  there  he  is,  why  don't  you  shoot." 

Don  was  rewarded  for  that,  and  he  added  to  the 
fan  of  the  camp  the  next  day  when  Catherine  at- 
tempted to  paddle  across  the  lake  with  the  little 
girls,  leaving  Don  to  guard  the  tent. 

He  again  followed  the  trail,  and  halfway  across 
the  lake  they  were  alarmed  at  an  ominous  whin- 
ning  behind  them,  and  turned  to  behold  the  bulky 
watchman,  half  Newfoundland  and  half  setter, now 
tired  out  and  half  drowned,  in  his  desperate  at- 
tempt by  a  long  swim  to  overtake  them. 

He  rarely  got  left,  but  he  now  squealed  piteously, 
as  the  little  girls  vigorously  tugged  one  at  each  end 
to  pull  him  into  the  boat,  almost  upsetting  it  as 
they  did  so. 


THE    SWORD    OF    BUNKER    HILL.  193 

He  rewarded  them  at  once  by  shaking  his  huge 
pelt  till  he  drenched  all  three  of  them  from  head 
to  foot,  and  made  an  unsightly  piece  of  work  ol 
Catherine's  muslin  dress,  which  she  had  put  on  to 
visit  the  jBsherman's  cottage. 

At  supper,  however,  Don  seemed  penitent  and 
was  so  loyal,  so  grateful  and  sympathetic,  so  affec- 
tionate and  conscientious,  so  unselfish  and  humble, 
and  yet  so  vigilant  and  brave,  he  seemed  to  lack 
nothing  but  language  to  make  him  really  human 
and  a  Christian  too. 

As  he  lay  at  his  master's  feet,  his  lustrous 
orange-tawney  fleece  now  dried  again,  his  large 
eyes  looked  up  so  appealingly,  following  every  turn 
of  his  master's  head,  that  it  seemed  as  though  he 
did  really  understand  every  word  that  was  said, 
and  did  continually  long  for  language  that  he  might 
take  part  in  the  conversation. 

*'How  he  listens  to  you,"  said  Catherine.  **I 
believe  he  understands  all  you  say." 

'*  Don  !"  said  the  Professor,  sharply,  **  Catherine 
would  now  be  grateful  if  you  would  relieve  us  of 
your  company." 

Don  was  inclined  to  whimper,  but  perceiving  no 
relenting  in  his  master's  face  or  tone,  he  at  once  left 
the  tent. 

A  low  whistle  recalled  him,  and  he  came  in  very 
happy. 

**Don  ! "  said  the  Professor,  in  the  same  sharp 
tone,  *^  Catherine  is  very  grateful  to  you  for  your 


194  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

gracious  attentions  to-day,  in  escorting  her  across 
the  lake!" 

Don  began  to  look  ashamed.  His  tail  dropped  a 
little,  as  if  he  knew  his  master  to  be  saying  some- 
thing he  did  not  quite  understand.  He  looked 
puzzled,  but  kept  his  beautiful  eyes  fixed  on  his 
master's  face,  and  he  promptly  left  the  tent  again, 
when  he  heard  : 

"  Senor  Don  !    Outside,  on  guard  !  " 

Catherine  looked  on  with  amazement  as  the 
obedient  creature  again  went  out  making  no  effort 
to  return. 

*'  He  does  understand  you  !  "  she  said. 

^'Certainly,  but  you  see  he  interprets  only  the 
tone  and  the  temper  of  it,  and  learns  when  he  had 
better  bestow  his  hide  in  a  safer  place." 

''Is  that  all?" 

''  All  ?  Isn't  that  everything  %  What  more  do 
we  know  %  The  grace  of  God  on  which  we  live  is 
just  that. 

"We  know  nothing  of  God,  but  his  good 
will,  his  love,  his  grace.  That  reveals  itself  in 
every  voice  of  nature.  We  interpret  the  temper 
and  tone,  and  then  take  the  wisdom  and  love  for 
granted.  Is  not  that  to  be  childlike  \  Every 
child  walks  first  by  faith.  Our  trust  is  the  funda- 
mental thing.  That  is  the  one  common  endow- 
ment." 

"  Then  Don  is  human,  for  he  has  that  as  well  as 
we?" 


THE    SWORD    OF    BUNKEB    HILL.  195 

**  Not  quite,  dear,  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  only  the 
beginning  of  wisdom." 

"  Don's  relation  to  me  has  but  two  ties,  his  affec- 
tion and  his  fear.  He  would  love  you  and  obey 
you  just  as  well  if  you  would  whip  him  occasionally. 

It  seems  as  though  he  only  needed  conscious- 
ness to  make  him  human.  His  trust  in  nature  is 
perfect.  He  trusts  the  water,  the  ground,  the  sight 
of  his  eyes,  the  sensations  of  his  nose.  How  differ- 
ent is  that  trust  when  it  comes  to  long  for  con- 
sciousness, to  struggle  for  knowledge  of  how  to  be- 
come conscious,  as  it  does  when  he  looks  to  a 
master,  and  his  life  verges  on  duty,  dependence, 
loyalty,  worship. 

Obedience  is  the  bridge  on  which  trust  passes  over 
into  faith.  Disobedience  or  distrust  is  the  source  of 
all  fear." 

*'Then  how  can  the  fear  of  the  Lord  be  the  be- 
ginning of  wisdom  ?    I  always  did  hate  that  text." 

*'  And  rightly,  if  you  supposed  fear  there  meant 
simply  dread  or  terror  ;  but  how  if  it  meant  rever- 
ence and  looked  toward  obedience  and  loving  de- 
pendence ? " 

"  I  see  that  would  be  different,  but  I  do  hate  the 
thought  of  discipline  through  fear." 

"But  can  there  be  any  other  ?  It  is  the  sin  that 
brings  the  fear  ;  perfect  love  and  obedience  casteth 
out  fear." 

"  The  animals  know  no  fear  in  the  true  sense. 
They  are  timid,  but  they  have  no  imagination,  no 


196         BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

fancy,  no  ideal,  no  moral  sense,  little  memory,  few 
sympathies,  no  anticipations,  no  baffled  hopes,  no 
disappointments,  no  regrets— none  of  the  sources 
of  our  dread  and  terror,  our  reproach  and  self- 
torment." 

"  And  you  don't  think  they  suffer  as  we  do  ?  " 
**  Certainly  not ;   human  beings  must  suffer  be- 
cause they  are  human,  and  have  also  higher  joys. 
Their  higher  powers  involve  exquisite  susceptibili- 
ties, with  a  thousand  ties  that  involve  suffering." 
''But  why  should  we  suffer.     What  is  it  all  for?" 
''  Ah,  that  is  the  great  Problem  of  Evil.     Why 
sin  is  permitted  ?    That  would  be  to  tell  why  God 
made  man  at  all,  and  that  surely  we  do  not  know. 
We  pay  a  terrible  price  for  knowledge  and  intelli- 
gence,  and  pain  is  the  small  price  we  pay  for 
innumerable  pleasures." 

''Yet  pain,  of  itself,  is  nothing  !  But  suffering 
is  really  the  key  to  heaven,  it  speaks  of  such  in- 
finite capacities  and  relations  in  the  soul,  and 
vicarious  suffering  is  the  crown  of  all,  when  love 
suffers  for  guilt.  That  reveals  a  community  of  life 
that  God  must  share,  and  by  it  we  partake  of  the 
Divine  Nature.  Suffering  is  our  promise  of  heaven, 
and  God's  pledge  that  sin  shall  some  day  cease, 
and  its  best  revelation  and  interpretation  is  in 
Christ  Jesus." 

Catherine's  gentle  spirit  was  very  quick  in  its 
sympathy,  but  her  Boston  heart  hated  that  phrase, 
"vicarious  suffering,"  though  with  the  thing  itself 
she  was  very  familiar. 


CHRIST    IN    THE    HOSPITAL.  197 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CHRIST  IN  THE  HOSPITAL. 

'*  Beside  a  stricken  field  I  stood, 
On  the  torn  turf,  on  grass  and  wood, 
Hung  heavily  the  dew  of  blood. 

Still  in  their  fresh  mounds  lay  the  slain  ; 
But  all  the  air  was  quick  with  pain, 
And  gusty  sighs  and  tearful  rain. 

Two  angels,  each  with  drooping  head, 
And  folded  wings  and  noiseless  tread, 
Watched  by  that  valley  of  the  dead. 

The  one,  with  forehead  saintly,  bland, 
And  lips  of  blessing,  not  command. 
Leaned  weeping  on  her  olive  wand. 

The  other's  brows  were  scarred  and  knit ; 
His  restless  eyes  were  watch  fires  lit ; 
His  hands  for  battle-gauntlets  fit. 

Then  freedom  sternly  said,  I  shun 
No  strife  nor  pang  beneath  the  sun. 
When  human  rights  are  staked  and  won." 

Their  week  at  the  lake  extended  through   the 
month  of  August,  1862,  and  they  felt  they  could 


198  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

have  floated  there  forever,  vratching  the  sunset  and 
waning  twilight,  like  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden 
of  Eden. 

But  early  one  morning  the  Scotchman  rowed 
across  the  lake  to  bring  a  telegram  from  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  saying  again, 
**Come  at  once." 

That  grand  man,  who  crowned  a  general's  execu- 
tive power  and  wisdom  with  a  Christian's  faith,  was 
one  of  Nature's  noblemen.  He  was  God's  grace 
incarnate,  and  his  demands  now  were  numberless, 
and  his  lieutenants  were  few.  Men  were  wanted, 
fit  to  command  in  the  field,  yet  willing  to  serve  the 
wounded  in  the  hospitals,  on  the  borders  of  the 
battle. 

He  cordially  welcomed  Catherine  and  her  hus- 
band to  New  York,  and  set  them  to  studying  the 
grand  organization  his  genius  had  shaped,  when  a 
nation's  greatest  need  called  it  into  being.  The 
horrors  of  Fair  Oaks,  and  the  terrors  of  Malvern 
Hill  were  then  in  the  air,  and  the  vast  service  the 
commission  had  there  rendered,  in  saving  life  to  the 
army,  had  swept  away  all  opposition  and  doubts  of 
its  usefulness,  so  that  it  now  entered  on  its  grander 
career,  as  the  great  battles  of  Antietam  and  Sharps- 
burg  approached. 

The  temperaments  that  could  stay  away  from  the 
battle,  content  to  minister,  within  sound  of  its 
guns,  to  the  men  it  had  smitten,  were  rare  and  few. 

They  were  but  imperfectly  trained  and  prepared 


CHRIST    IN    THE    HOSPITAL.  ,  199 

when,  at  the  first  sound  of  those  great  parks  of  ar- 
tillery at  Antietam  they  were  rushed  away,  with  a 
freight  train  loaded  with  supplies  of  endless  vari- 
ety, to  that  field  of  terrible  slaughter  and  unlimited 
suffering. 

They  reached  the  borders  of  that  great  battle  on 
the  19th  of  September,  just  as  McClellan's  too 
cautious  pursuit  found  out  that  the  agile  foe  had 
again  slipped  from  his  grasp,  leaving  many  miles  of 
territory  literally  covered  with  mangled,  and  suf- 
fering and  dying  men. 

It  was  a  wholly  new  experience  to  them,  and  to 
see  only  the  terrible  side  of  war,  with  none  of  the 
glory,  was  most  disheartening,  during  the  long 
nights  and  days,  when  they  were  surrounded  by  an 
army  of  stricken  men,  friend  and  foe  alike  needing 
aid,  far  beyond  their  limited  means. 

Barns,  houses,  churches,  tents,  freight  cars,  fence- 
corners  and  fields  were  all  full  of  suffering. 

It  astonished  Catherine  to  see  how  merry  many 
of  the  poor  fellows  were,  and  so  happy  to  have  es- 
caped with  life,  and  how  friendly  the  late  foemen 
were  with  one  another,  when  they  fell  together,  or 
were  brought  together  to  the  temporary  hospitals. 

They  worked  without  rest  for  two  days,  trying 
wisely  to  distribute  their  train  of  supplies,  and  to 
extend  its  resources  as  far  as  possible,  to  relieve 
the  unlimited  suffering. 

Then  Catherine  broke  down  from  overwork,  in 
the  eagerness  of  her  zeal  and  compassion,  which 


200         BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

hardly  permitted  her  to  eat  or  to  sleep,  till  nature 
fell,  exhausted. 

The  conviction  was  soon  forced  upon  them  that, 
however  willing,  she  was  out  of  place  amid  such 
scenes.  Her  trained  skill,  and  education  as  a 
teacher,  made  her  in  no  way  superior  as  a  nurse,  to 
the  hundreds  of  uneducated  women  about  her. 
This  field  was  so  accessible  by  the  railroads,  East 
and  West,  that  the  homes  of  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York  and  Ohio,  sent  forth  a  host  of  such 
compassionate  ministers  of  grace,  and  the  army 
surgeons  had  fairly  to  struggle  with  them  to  save 
the  poor  fellows  in  hospital  from  their  too  zealous 
attentions. 

Catherine  could  hardly  believe  this,  till  she  heard 
a  too  attentive  visitor  say  to  a  burly  artilleryman, 
restless  from  fever:  "My  poor  fellow,  may  I  not 
bathe  your  face?"  and  he  answered,  '*  Well,  mum, 
if  it  would  please  you  very  much,  you  may ;  but 
it's  been  bathed  about  seventeen  times  this  morn- 
ing, already! " 

The  sight  of  Catherine  passing  through  this  host 
of  the  suffering  and  the  dying,  seemed  to  do  more 
good  than  any  medicine,  and  she  had  begun  to  feel 
that  no  new  horror  or  surprise  could  await  her, 
when  her  heart  leapt  up  one  day,  to  hear  a  feeble 
voice  calling  her  name. 

**  Great  Gfod !  there  she  is,"  exclaimed  one  of 
her  own  boys  from  Bethlehem.  There  lay  George 
Schuyler,  a  New  York  boy,  from  the  preparatory 


CHBIST    IN    THE    HOSPITAL.  201 

Bchool,  his  golden  hair  matted  with  blood,  his  blue 
eyes  sunken  and  sad,  his  face  so  white  and  wan  ! 
He  had  seen  her  again  and  again,  and  longed  to 
speak  to  her,  but  she  had  not  come  near  enough. 
When  he  was  sleeping,  again  he  called  her  name, 
and  a  nurse  came  to  send  her  to  him.  A  shell  had 
shattered  the  bones  of  both  legs,  and  he  had,  so  far, 
survived  a  double  amputation. 

He  said  he  was  sorry  he  had  called  her,  as  it 
caused  her  so  cruel  a  pain,  and  cost  her  so  visible 
and  so  bitter  a  struggle  to  keep  the  tears  from 
pouring  down  her  face,  as  she  sat  beside  him. 

He  tried  to  apologize  for  having  pained  her,  for 
having  spoken  to  her,  but  her  hand  on  his  brow 
seemed  to  quiet  and  encourage  him,  and  she  kissed 
him  lovingly,  as  the  only  reply  she  could  make,  as 
he  asked  her  if  she  would  please  write  a  letter  for 
him  to  his  mother. 

All  the  mothers  of  these  gallant  men  were  now 
in  the  same  terrible  suspense,  North  or  South, 
knowing  that  their  boys  were  there,  and  knowing 
nothing  more.  The  cruel  shells,  bursting  for  three 
days  over  the  battle  field,  caused  directly  but  little 
pain,  compared  with  that  which  followed,  as  the 
slow  messengers  of  the  post  made  their  way  to  ten 
thousand  homes,  turning  the  misery  of  suspense 
into  the  certainty  of  a  keener  anguish.  At  first, 
the  North  suffered  most,  as  the  telegraph  every- 
where reported  the  battle,   and  filled  all  homes 


202         BOEDEE  LANDS  OF  FAITH, 

with  terror;  while  in  the  South,  the  mothers  of 
brave  men,  there  smitten,  did  not  even  know  for 
weeks  that  a  battle  had  been  fought,  and  were 
doomed  sadly  to  wait,  year  after  year,  for  tidings 
that  never  came. 

Catherine  sat  down  to  write,  and  it  was  a  revela- 
tion to  her  of  the  tenderness  and  considerateness 
of  a  boy' s  heart,  as  George  Schuyler  dictated,  and 
finally  signed,  a  cheerful  letter  to  his  mother,  tell- 
ing of  his  joy  in  having  one  of  the  Antioch  teach- 
ers beside  him,  and  of  his  comfort  as  he  lay  there, 
as  well  cared  for  as  he  could  be,  under  the  circum- 
stances—while he  assured  her  that  he  had  been 
told  that  boys  who  lost  both  legs,  as  he  had,  would 
be  grandly  provided  for  by  a  grateful  nation  ;  so 
that  he  could  do  something  yet  for  her  support ! 

Catherine  was  only  too  glad  to  despatch  the  note 
at  once,  while  there  was  hope,  adding  a  word  of 
encouragement,  and  her  sleep  was  sweet,  that 
night,  in  thinking  over  what  more  she  could  do  for 
George  and  his  mother. 

Her  face  was  radiant  next  morning,  as  she  hast- 
ened to  his  cot ;  but  she  started  on  seeing  that  the 
blanket  covered  his  face.     He  was  dead  ! 

Even  his  effort  to  comfort  her,  and  to  send  a  word 
of  cheer  to  his  mother,  had  drawn  too  severely  on 
the  small  stock  of  vitality.  His  life  ebbed  away 
after  midnight,  and  ere  morning  he  was  gone. 

Catherine  went  back  sadly  to  her  little  desk 
in    the    freight    car,    where     she    lived.     Could 


CHEIST    IN    THE    HOSPITAL.  203 

she  write  to  his  mother  now?  What  could  she 
say?  Could  she  quote  to  her  the  grand  Latin 
sentiment  that  it  is  a  happy  fate  to  die  for  one's 
country  ?  Those  who  die  are  not  those  who  suffer 
most.  Could  she  tell  her  of  her  womanly  sym- 
pathy? She  tried  to  write.  It  was  all  in  vain. 
She  rushed  out,  presently,  to  appeal  to  her  hus- 
band, as  if  he  would  know  what  to  say.  But  he 
could  only  telegraph  to  his  friend,  the  pastor  of  the 
Schuylers,  saying  merely,  '*  George  Schuyler  .died 
last  night,"  thinking  how  much  better  it  was  that 
the  sad  news  should  come  first,  and  George's  tender 
and  careful  letter  a  day  later. 

He  knew  that  the  pastor's  Christian  sympathy 
would  break  the  news  as  kindly  as  possible,  and 
would  know  how  to  sustain  the  smitten  mother's 
heart,  though  there  is  no  earthly  consolation  for 
such  losses  as  that,  which  was  only  one  of  thou- 
sands like  it  on  every  battlefield. 

Upon  Catherine  this  whole  brief  experience  made 
a  profound  impression.  It  also  led  her  husband  to 
feel  that  her  affection  was  so  great,  while  her  re- 
ligious conviction  was  yet  so  undeveloped,  and  her 
faith  so  feeble,  that  such  scenes  were  too  trying 
for  her.  He  felt  that  she  ought  to  return  to  her 
New  England  home.  The  freight  cars  they  had 
brought  from  New  York  they  now  fitted  with 
hammocks  and  bunks,  to  bear  North  some  of  the 
wounded,  who  might  gain  by  such  transportation. 
But  as  the  days  passed,  and  graves  were  added  to 


204  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

graves,  continually,  Catherine's  face  grew  more 
and  more  thin  and  sad,  and  she  thought  continu- 
ally of  George  Schuyler's  mother.  She  could  not 
but  dwell  upon  the  fact  that  he  was  one  of  thou- 
sands, and  that,  in  thus  losing  an  only  son,  the 
ordinary  consolations  of  religion  seemed  mere 
mockery. 

"  But  when  Italy's  made,  for  what  end  is  it  done 

If  we  have  not  a  son  ? 
When  you  want  a  great  song  for  your  Italy  free, 

Let  none  look  at  me  !  " 

*'Tell  me,  dear,"  she  said  one  day,  "tell  me 
more  of  this  you  speak  of  as  vicarious  suffering." 

**Ah,  Catherine,"  he  answered.  "I  don't  know 
much  about  the  theory  of  it.  The  fact  we  all  know 
very  well.  We  shall  have  to  think  of  it  all  our 
lives,  Catherine,  but  we  need  first  of  all  to  see  that 
it  is  not  vicarious  punishment." 

**  We  suffer  for  the  sins  of  others,  but  we  do  not 
bear  part  of  the  punishment  of  them.  You  see, 
dear,  all  the  great  doctrines  of  the  church  may  be 
and  have  been  horribly  degraded.  They  have  been 
dragged  through  the  mud  of  the  dark  ages.  They 
have  been  in  the  hands  of  people  gross  and  rude. 
They  have  been  handed  down,  indeed,  and  not 
always  by  clean  hands.  Even  our  Protestant  right 
of  private  judgment  is  held  to  carry  with  it  the 
power  and  the  right  of  private  degradation  of  the 
holiest  gifts  of  the  past." 


CHRIST    IN     THE    HOSPITAL.  205 

**  But  this  age  is  enlightened,  is  it  not  ? " 

**  Ah,  'tis  our  pet  fallacy.  A  million  inventions, 
the  knowledge  of  ten  million  facts  may  just  as 
easily  bring  confusion  and  moral  blindness  as  en- 
lightenment. The  latter  comes  not  from  the  intel- 
lect, but  from  the  soul,  and  we  can  only  see  Christ 
aright,  if  we  see  him  as  Paul  and  John  did,  through 
the  pure  eyes  of  the  Greek  philosophy,  and  under 
the  light  of  the  Orient." 

*'  Susceptibility  must  suffer.  How  could  a  Haw- 
thorne or  a  Tennyson  live  without  suffering  1 " 

*'  But  what  of  poor  Gfeorge's  mother  ? " 

'*Ah,  what  of  George's  poor  mother,  1  should 
ask.  You  see  it  is  not  those  who  die  that  suffer 
most.  It  is  not  those  who  sin  that  suffer  most — 
unless  they  come  hereafter  to  suffer  because  of  the 
anguish  they  have  heaped  upon  the  innocent.  It 
is  innocent  sympathy  that  suffers." 

'*It  seems  as  though  the  greater  the  innocence, 
the  greater  the  susceptibility,  the  sympathy  and 
the  suffering." 

''  Certainly,  it  must  be  so." 

*' But  is  it  not  horrible  r' 

*'It  would  be,  if  that  were  all  of  it.  Hence  we 
know  that  this  is  not  the  whole.  There  must  be 
compensation  somewhere.  There  must  be  redemp- 
tion.    It  is  our  best  hold  on  immortality." 

'*  Think  first  of  the  compensation  given  to  a 
Tennyson,  which  so  few  that  have  ever  lived  could 
iully  share  ;  that  ecstacy  which  so  hears  and  sees, 


206  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

as  when  his  eye  rests  on  the  delicate  beads  of  dew 
gemming 

"  The  cobweb  spun  across  the  cannon's  throat ! '  " 

"  But,  dear,  can  we  conceive  of  God  as  suffer- 
ing T' 

"Why  not?  Is  there,  do  you  think,  no  sym- 
pathy in  the  Divine  Love  ?  Can  there  be  sympathy, 
even  in  our  sins  and  sorrows,  and  yet  no  suffer- 
ing?" 

'*  But  if  he  sees  that  it  all  has  blessed  results, 
that  it  is  all  for  human  good  ?  " 

'*  Ah,  if  he  sees,  yes." 

'*We  must  have  a  theory  you  see,  at  least  a 
hypothesis.  His  foreseeing  would  indeed  diminish 
suffering,  possibly  remove  it ;  and  so  if  we  see, 
what  when?  If  our  suffering  increase  our  faith 
and  our  insight,  it  will  bring  us  nearer  to  the 
Divine  Peace,  will  it  not  ?" 

*'  And  if  our  sympathy  begets  sympathy,  and  so 
brings  the  sinful  nearer  to  them  that  suffer  for 
them,  the  suffering  will  be  directly  an  uplifting, 
revealing,  saving  power,  will  it  not,  even  to  them 
that  cause  it  ?  " 

'*  Certainly." 

"And  could  there  be  any  other — any  other  to 
compare  with  this?  Suffering  love  is  man's  Sa- 
viour.  Is  not  sympathy  the  one  highest  law  of  life  ?' ' 

"  Is  not  this  law  of  the  suffering  of  the  innocent, 
the  one  revelation  of  the  solidarity  of  our  race,  of 
the  fact  that  we  live  not  as  individuals  alone,  and 


CHRIST    IN    THE    HOSPITAL.  .       207 

the  promise  that  every  human  soul  must  continue 
to  exist,  and  at  last  be  saved  from  sin  ? " 

"It  is  a  severe  law,  dear,  and  a  hard  road." 

"  It  is  the  road  to  Heaven,  Catherine,  the  only- 
road,  the  Cross,  the  Cross  alone,  is  the  key  to  the 
gate  we  long  to  enter." 

"  Then  I  think  you  ought  to  enter  the  pulpit," 
she  said.     "  You  can  have  no  higher  duty." 

"Though  my  first  sermon  might  be  against  the 
Bible." 

"Certainly.  That  is  what  is  most  important  to 
know — that  it  is  not  against  the  Bible  to  tell  the 
truth  about  it." 

"Not  even  of  the  flood  and  that  big  fish  story 
that  Jonah  swallowed  a  whale  1 " 

"He  didn't,  dear,  but  that  is  more  probable 
than  the  way  it  is  told.  If  sincere  men  avoid  the 
pulpit  for  such  reasons,  then  the  church  is  left  to 
sneaks  and  cowards,  and  there  are  too  many  of  them 
in  it,  already." 

"  Well,  what  of  the  tables  of  stone  V 

"So  far  as  they  are  good,  they  are  God's  word. 
All  voices  of  Goodness  are  the  voice  of  God ;  and 
it  is  no  discredit  to  his  Authorship  that  he  had  to 
use  the  poor  tools  of  those  early  days  in  the  feeble 
hands  of  Moses  or  some  other  workman,  who  took 
about  forty  days  to  chisel  them  out." 

"God  had  written  those  commandments  in  the 
hearts  of  his  people,  long  before  they  got  on  to  those 
old  stones." 


208  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 


CHAPTER  XVIT. 


THE   RED   CROSS   FLAG. 


The  President  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  was  a 
noted  Unitarian  divine,  and  the  well  recognized 
leader  of  the  more  conservative  wing  of  those  intel- 
ligent and  somewhat  self-righteous  people.  He 
represented  the  Channing  Unitarianism  of  1825, 
and  when  Antioch  was  projected  in  1850,  by  the 
Christians,  he  warmly  espoused  their  cause  at  once, 
and  boldly  proclaimed  that  the  only  difference  he 
knew  between  them  and  the  Unitarians  he  repre- 
sented, was  that  the  Christians  had  the  better 
name. 

That  both  pleased  and  surprised  the  Christians, 
and  they  accepted  him  at  once,  as  the  most  worthy 
successor  of  Channing,  and  made  him  a  trustee  of 
their  new  college  ;  but  many  of  them  greatly  loved 
to  pay  him  off  for  it,  as  they  considered  it,  by  ap- 
plying to  him  the  old  story,  attributed  to  Thomas 
Starr  King,  on  his  leaving  Boston  for  California  in 
1860,  when  he  was  asked  at  a  public  dinner,  if  there 
was  any  important  difference  between  the  Unita- 
ians  and  the  Universalists  ? 

'*  Well,"  said  King,  *'  the  only  important  differ- 
ence I  know,  is  that  the  Universalists  believe  that 


THE  EED  CR0S8  FLAG.  209 

God  is  too  good  to  damn  them  eternally,  while  the 
Unitarians  only  believe  that  they,  themselves,  are 
too  good  to  be  damned  !  " 

That  limited  faith  of  the  Unitarians  has  been  sup- 
posed to  be  the  reason  of  their  limited  numbers,  as 
so  few  people  can  sincerely  believe  that  creed  ;  and 
it  leaves  no  room  for  hypocrites,  as  there  is  so  little 
else  to  profess. 

When  Emerson  once  said  they  believed  in  the 
humanity  of  God  and  the  divinity  of  man,  some 
radical  objected  because  he  did  not  state  the  divin- 
ity of  man  first ! 

But  such  men  as  Dr.  Channing  and  the  President 
of  the  Sanitary  Commission,  Dr.  Bellows,  always 
have  a  faith  wider  than  their  creeds,  and  even 
wider  than  Tom  Paine' s  famous  platform, — **The 
world  is  my  country,  and  to  do  good  is  my  religion," 
— as  they  can  say  sincerely:  *'The  universe  is  my 
country,  and  all  truth  is  my  religion."  And  he 
emphasized  that  by  exchanging  pulpits  occasionally 
with  a  learned  Jewish  Rabbi,  who  respected  Chris- 
tianity without  fanaticism. 

The  President  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  there- 
fore had  great  faith  in  those  Antioch  boys,  who  had 
been  educated  under  his  eye  ;  and  he  now  applied 
to  the  Government  to  have  Captain  Cyrus  Christie 
detailed  to  his  aid  at  Memphis. 

Hissystem  was  now  well  established  in  the  East, 
and  reinforced  to  follow  the  great  battles  of  Fred- 
ericksburg in  midwinter,  and  on  to  Chancellors  villa 


210  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

and  Gettysburg  in  the  following  Spring,  with  all 
that  ample  money  could  furnish,  of  kindness,  at- 
tention, cleanliness,  service,  food,  clothing  and 
medicine,  to  aid  the  sick  and  wounded. 

But  the  West  was  yet  neglected  in  this  important 
service,  from  mere  inability  to  get  it  every  where  at 
once,  and  the  great  battles  of  Shiloh  and  Corinth 
were  now  opening  the  Mississippi  and  the  way  to 
Vicksburg,  when  its  first  great  depot  was  estab- 
lished at  Memphis  by  Captain  Christie. 

Catherine  now  consented  to  rest  awhile  at  her 
New  England  home  in  Dorchester,  believing  she 
would  soon  bring  her  husband  there  to  enter  the 
pulpit ;  while  he  now  sped  away  to  join  Cyrus  at 
Memphis. 

No  time  now  to  pause  at  Mendon,  or  to  halt  for 
a  night  at  Antioch.  People  cannot  well  conceive, 
at  the  close  of  the  19  th  century,  the  fearful  pace  at 
which  life  was  driven  when  the  pressure  of  that 
great  civil  war  lay  upon  the  land. 

Away  speeds  the  panting  engine,  with  another 
immense  train  of  supplies  for  that  western  relief, 
whirling  night  and  day  across  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois  ;  it  seemed  like  cruel  waste  and 
delay  to  have  to  take  the  slow  steamer  from  Cairo, 
in  order  to  reach  Memphis. 

Memphis  became  the  chief  hospital  centre  in  the 
field  for  the  West.  Thence  supplies  were  poured 
out  by  the  steamboat  load,  and  thither  cargoes  of 
sick  and  wounded  men  came  back. 


THE  KED  CROSS  FLAG.  211 

Bullets  and  battles  are  but  harmless  things  in 
war,  as  compared  with  the  deadly  fevers  and  the 
other  diseases  which  take  hold  of  the  strongest 
men,  in  that  climate,  and  harrass  the  army,  day 
and  night. 

The  President  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  well 
knew  that  he  and  his  subordinate  host  were  saving 
more  good  men  than  could  be  now  recruited,  and 
that  they  were  the  real  saviours  of  the  army  and 
the  nation. 

As  a  Unitarian,  though  prudent  and  conscien- 
tious, even  to  the  verge  of  timidity,  he  knew  he 
was  open  to  attack,  and  his  Faith  was  here  made 
the  first  object  of  assault.  He  had  not  called  his 
organization  the  Christian  Commission,  though 
such  it  was  in  fact,  preferring  that  it  should  be 
known  by  its  fruits.  Christ  wrought  through  all 
its  devoted  and  tender  hands,  but  to  have  called  it 
such  might  have  aggrieved  some  kindly  friends,  or 
have  seemed  to  assume  too  much,  as  many  wealthy 
Jews  and  men  of  no  religious  professions  had  con- 
tributed to  it  thousands  of  dollars. 

It  was  the  helping  hand,  the  doer  of  Christian 
work,  regardless  of  Faith,  to  foe  or  friend  alike. 

Hence  the  door  was  left  open  for  a  great  rival 
organization  to  spring  up,  disputing  the  ground 
with  the  Sanitary  Commission,  often  misrepresent- 
ing its  work,  and  filling  the  land  with  new  distrac- 
tions and  fears  and  sectarian  warfare. 

The  Christian  Commission  built  on  the  churches 


212  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

of  the  land,  while  the  Sanitary  Commission  had 
built  on  its  homes.  The  former  had,  therefore,  an 
organization  ready-made,  reaching  to  every  hamlet 
in  America,  and,  while  quickening  its  humanity 
with  sectarian  zeal,  it  had  in  denominational 
papers,  preachers,  churches  and  Sunday  schools,  a 
million  powerful  agencies  for  communication  be- 
tween the  homes  and  the  army,  and  swiftly  inter- 
changing supplies  and  information. 

Something  was  wasted  between  the  two  commis- 
sions, in  bickerings  and  controversies,  ]ust  as  sim- 
ilar waste  is  made  among  rival  churches.  But 
they  spurred  up  each  other's  energies,  jealously 
watched  each  other's  works,  and  illustrated  the 
great  law  of  progress,  through  the  conflict  of  loy- 
alties. 

It  was  just  that  of  which  the  civil  war  itself  con- 
sisted. It  was  a  conflict  of  loyalties.  And  always, 
in  such  struggles,  the  loyalty  to  the  lower  thing  is 
more  barbaric,  bitter  and  relentless,  because  it  is 
the  more  ignorant  and  blind,  and  by  its  nature 
cannot  give  up  until  ground  to  powder,  by  the  high 
hope  and  heaven-born  persistency  of  the  loyalty  to 
the  higher  thing  which  is  kinder,  calmer  and  more 
enduring,  because  endowed  with  the  indestructa- 
bility  of  Divine  Love. 

The  struggle  of  the  higher  with  the  lower  is 
always  a  sacrifice,  and  involves  the  loving  willing- 
ness of  the  innocent  and  the  holy,  to  suffer  for  and 
with  the  guilty  and  the  vile. 


THE    BED    CEOSS    FLAG.  213 

Never  was  there  another  war  on  earth,  wherein  the 
victor  was  called  to  show  and  did  show,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  such  forbearance  and  patience 
and  long-suffering  charity. 

The  madness  of  slavery  wrapped  in  the  fiction  of 
State's  rights,  and  encouraged  by  the  selfishness 
of  England's  nobility  and  gentry,  was  indeed  a 
maniac,  bound  blindly  to  destroy  until  destroyed. 

On  arriving  at  Memphis,  the  old  flag  was  flying 
from  the  barracks,  where  Christie  was  toiling  like 
a  slave,  but  the  rival  structures  of  the  Christian 
Commission,  across  the  way,  were  the  more  con- 
spicuous, because  of  their  large  white  flag,  display- 
ing the  crimson  cross. 

Fond  as  the  Professor  was  of  that  symbol,  which 
stood  to  him  for  all  that  is  holiest,  most  unselfish 
and  tenderly  compassionate,  he  clenched  his  teeth 
as  he  now  looked  at  it,  as  though  it  were  a  sign  of 
opposition. 

He  was  thinking  of  the  cruel  calumny  some  of  its 
blind  followers  had  already  spread  through  the 
North,  concerning  his  friend  Cyrus.  They  said  he 
had  sold  the  stores  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  to 
the  soldiers,  for  his  own  benefit. 

Here  were  the  men,  they  averred,  now  wearing 
the  garments  sent  by  loyal  homes  for  sick  men 
only,  and  to  be  given  away,  not  sold.  How  could 
they  know  that  Christie,  seeing  this  army  corps 
coming  down  from  the  Tennessee  Mountains,  almost 
barefoot,  had  turned  over  to  its  Commissary  De- 


214  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

partment  twenty  thousand  pairs  of  stockings, 
trusting  to  the  tardy  movement  of  government 
officials  to  restore  them,  and  taking  all  the  respon- 
sibility on  himself,  and  risking  his  income,  his 
position  and  his  good  name  ? 

He  gives  tvrice  who  gives  quickly,  and  to  give 
immediate  relief,  even  by  cutting  the  red  tape  of 
negligent  officials,  was  then  a  great  virtue.  Yet 
the  report  was  sent  into  all  the  churches  of  the 
North,  that  agents  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  were 
but  pilfering  rogues. 

"How  can  you  bear  it,  Cyrus  1"  said  his  old 
chum,  impatiently. 

"  I  don't  bear  it,"  his  friend  answered.  **It  is 
the  unpardonable  sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
Christ  bears  it  for  me." 

Evidently  this  was  now  his  habitual  thought. 
There  was  no  time  to  discuss  it,  as  he  sat  at  his 
desk,  swiftly  writing. 

Demands  were  coming,  orders  were  going,  com- 
plaints were  pouring  in,  subordinates  were  shirk- 
ing, conflicting  interests  and  calls  were  incessant. 

But  later  they  in  silence  left  the  office,  and  walked 
on  the  bluff,  where  they  coald  see  up  and  down  the 
mighty  river. 

Steamboats  were  trailing  their  heavy  banners  of 
smoke  here  and  there,  steam  tugs  were  puffing  and 
screaming,  the  grand  river  was  rolling  in  silence 
below,  while  behind  them  waved  the  rival  flags  of 
the  two  Commissions,  and  near  by,  in  the  suburbs, 


THE    RED    CEOSS    FLAG.  215 

was  the  camping  place  of  the  host  of  freedmen,  who 
had  followed  the  army  down  the  Tennessee. 

This  camp  of  contrabands  they  now  went  to  visit, 
partly  to  see  the  orthodox  prayer-meeting,  there 
established  by  that  Christian  Commission. 

But  first  that  mighty  flood  of  the  great  river 
seemed  the  most  impressive  thing  they  had  ever 
seen,  so  silent,  so  deep,  so  dark  and  still,  yet  rolling 
with  such  momentum,  with  such  absence  of  uncer- 
tainty or  hesitation,  it  seemed  so  to  know  what  it 
was  doing,  and  where  it  was  going,  while  it  power- 
fully impressed  the  imagination,  as  If  it  were  at 
peace  and  at  rest  like  the  universe,  notwithstanding 
its  mighty  motion. 

They  walked  from  the  bluff,  as  darkness  began 
to  gather  over  the  river,  being  recalled  by  a  sacred 
song  they  now  heard  from  the  contraband  camp. 
A  host  had  gathered  for  an  evening  meeting,  and  it 
impressed  them  strangely  to  hear  familiar  hymns 
sung  so  feelingly,  as  they  walked  slowly  toward 
the  camp,  while  darkness  now  wholly  concealed 
them  from  view. 

Suddenly  a  faintness  like  vertigo  caused  them  to 
stagger  and  stumble,  and  nearly  fall.  They  knew 
in  a  moment  what  it  was,  for  again  there  came  that 
strange  sensation,  when  the  ground  under  their 
feet  seemed  to  roll  and  swell  and  make  a  slight 
shiver,  very  slight,  yet  alarming,  as  the  common 
little  earthquakes  often  do.  Again  it  came,  that 
slight  shiver  of  the  ground,  not  sudden,  but  slow, 


216  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

even,  a  regular  vibration,  lasting  a  full  second  or 
more,  doing  no  real  harm,  but  making  one  feel  as 
though  something  worse  was  coming,  and  the  bot- 
tom of  things  all  dropping  out. 

Wholly  unaccountable  as  it  is,  the  terror  of  an 
earthquake  is  something  wonderful,  and  those  who 
know  it  best  dread  it  the  most,  as  the  nameless 
terror  of  the  unknown.  A  confused  murmur  of 
alarm  at  once  came  from  the  contraband  camp, 
which  was  filled  with  terror.  The  men  shrieked, 
and  the  women  seized  their  children  and  crowded 
toward  the  place  of  prayer-meeting. 

Sighs,  murmurs,  groans  and  brief  ejaculations  of 
prayer  were  heard,  and  soon,  in  the  little  assembly, 
several  were  earnestly  praying  at  once,  paying  no 
attention  to  the  others,  and  not  in  the  slightest 
doubt  of  its  moral  effect  in  averting  the  danger, 
while  over  the  strange  scene  a  tallow  candle,  here 
and  there,  cast  a  most  ghostly  light. 

One  grizzly  veteran  near  the  door  poured  out 
this  earnest  plea : 

**  Oh,  Lord,  come  down  now  and  save  us  1  Come 
down  this  minute,  oh,  God  I  and  help  us !  I  If 
you  can't  come  yourself,  send  your  son !  But 
come  yourself,  oh,  Lord,  if  you  can !  This  is  no 
night  for  chillen',  oh.  Lord  !  Come  yourself  !  You 
said  ye  would  I  Come  down,  oh,  God,  and  save 
us  I" 

Those  prayers  seemed  to  suggest  the  close  rela- 
tion of  piety  with  ignorance,  and  they  felt  that, 


THE    RED    CROSS    FLAG.  217 

sooner  than  enter  the  pulpits  of  such  a  ministry, 
they  would  rather  be  doorkeepers  in  the  tents  of 
wickedness,  as  those  of  the  Sanitary  Commission 
were  called. 

They  at  least  had  cleanliness,  which  is  next  to 
godliness,  and  felt  that  "a  doer  of  the  work  shall 
be  blessed." 

As  they  walked  away  he  said,  **  Cyrus,  you  are 
killing  yourself  here  I " 

**  Well,  where  can  one  die  more  fitly  ?  Are  the 
consolations  of  God  small  with  thee  ?  By  the  grace 
of  God,  I  am  what  I  am.  It  is  the  glory  of  the 
Gospel  that,  despite  ignorance  and  error,  and  cal- 
umny even,  the  work  of  grace  goes  on.  No  matter 
how  bad  the  tools,  they  would  have  been  far  worse 
had  sin  wielded  them." 

***  Christ  bears  it  for  me,'  what  did  you  mean 
by  that,  Cyrus?" 

**  I  mean  that  I  accept  the  Incarnation  as  an  in- 
scrutable mystery,  but  as  an  unquestionable  fact." 

**  You  do  not  mean  that  Christ  was  God  ? " 

**  Certainly  not,  yet  it  was  God  that  bade  men 
worship  him.  That  is,  if  there  had  prevailed  a  true 
view  of  the  relation  of  man  and  God,  there  would 
never  have  been  such  a  doctrine  as  the  Incarnation." 

**  Christianity  is  a  vital  process.  It  is  a  move- 
ment in  history,  in  human  life,  changing  men  and 
manners,  ideas  and  customs ;  and  the  whole  con- 
sists of  the  vital  sequence  by  natural  law,  of  that 
one  wonderful  life,   opportunely  set  by  God  in 


218  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

Galilee,  and  exalted  on  the  Cross  for  men  evermore 
to  behold  it.  In  such  a  vital  process,  theory  never 
precedes.  It  follows.  It  is  man's  explanation  of 
God' s  wonderful  work. ' ' 

**The  imagination  is  one  of  the  powers  man 
shares  with  God.  It  is  the  king  of  our  constructive 
forces.  Without  it,  even  science  could  make  no 
deductions,  no  classification,  nor  even  go  on  with 
the  logical  sequence  of  its  assumptions." 

**Its  assumption  ?  Science  would  scorn  to  make 
assumptions." 

**  It  cannot  help  making  them.  Every  step  of 
knowledge,  of  discovery,  of  experiment,  rests  on  a 
preliminary  act  of  faith.  Man  trusts  that  nature 
is  not  deceiving  him.  That  is,  man  trusts  in  the 
truth  of  God.    All  science  assumes  that." 

**But  the  Incarnation?" 

**  The  Incarnation  is  part  of  the  vital  process,  not 
yet  completed.  It  is  God's  revelation  of  himself, 
and  his  method.  Christ  stands  forth  as  the  incar- 
nate love  of  God,  set  before  man's  imagination,  un- 
speakably precious  to  the  love  of  woman,  and 
thereby  impressing  a  holy  image  upon  children 
unborn.    Christ  is  divine." 

"  Was  he  a  mystery  to  himself  1 " 

**Most  assuredly  he  was.  It  was  the  glory  of  his 
mortal  life,  that  he  walked  by  faith,  not  by  sight. 
Self-knowledge,  came  only  with  the  Resurrection 
as  it  will  to  you  and  to  me.  We  know  not  what  we 
shall  be." 


Of  THW 


THE    BED    CROSS    FLAG.  ^»SEilii!£5£t 

"You  believe  then,  in  Christ's  resurrection?" 

**To  me,  Jesus  was  not  Christ  until  the  Resur- 
rection. As  to  that,  I  offer  no  theory,  but  the 
fact.  The  Truth  which  has  transformed  the  his- 
tory of  the  world,  became  the  common  property  of 
mankind,  in  the  Belief  of  the  Resurrection  of 
Christ." 

"  And  not  of  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  ?  " 

**Not  of  the  Body  of  Jesus.  You  must  remember 
that  Mark,  as  originally  written,  does  not  record 
it ;  and  the  witnesses  who  received  that  Body  from 
the  Cross,  Joseph  the  owner  of  that  Garden,  and 
Nicodemus,  who  embalmed  the  Body,  Mary,  and 
the  *Many  women  who  had  followed  him  from 
Galilee,'  have  never  told  their  story  of  the  burial 
so  far  as  known." 

**  The  Incarnation  was  not  complete  while  Jesus 
walked  in  Palestine — not  till  that  Mortal  put  on 
Immortality,  not  till  Christ  began  His  new  pilgrim- 
age on  earth,  in  which  He  now  asks  you  and  me 
to  join." 

*' Cyrus  I  do  you  mean  that  His  personal  call 
comes  to  us  to-day  ?  His  personal  presence  and 
sympathy  supports  us  ?  I  believe  you  do  really  re- 
gard him  as  God." 

**  I  believe  Him  to  be  the  one  highest  manifesta- 
tion of  God.  Reject  Him  and  there  is  no  sufficient 
evidence  of  God  left.  God,  to  man's  intellect,  is 
a  hypothesis.  To  man's  praying  spirit,  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  the  Divine  contact,  a  felt  influence,  which 


220  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

is  a  sweet  reality,  but  a  thing  wMch  fancy  cannot 
picture,  nor  reason  define,  and  on  which  mental 
conception  cannot  lay  hold." 

**  In  Christ  is  that  visible  manifestation  which 
the  creative  imagination  must  have  or  make,  on 
which  love  and  gratitude  and  hope  of  immortality 
can  lay  hold,  and  whereby  Divine  Power  works 
most  naturally  and  potently." 

**  Do  you  mean  Christ  Jesus  1 " 

*'  Certainly.  Those  who  now  talk  of  Jesus  only, 
and  study  only  that  mortal  life,  have  turned  their 
backs  upon  the  grander  figure  and  work,  and  know 
nothing  of  Christ.  To  them  Christianity  is  only 
a  grand  blunder,  instead  of  the  growing  and  most 
glorious  of  all  the  revelations  of  God." 

**  Growing  ?  A  growing  revelation  1  The  terms 
are  self -contradictory." 

**  Not  at  all !  What  do  you  suppose  God  is  do- 
ing through  all  these  ages  1  Has  he  ceased  to  exist  ? 
Or  is  he  asleep  ? " 

**  You  mean  that  He  is  making  revelations 
now!" 

**  Just  as  fast  as  He  can.  Just  as  fast  as  our 
human  infirmity  or  stupidity  permits.  He  must 
not  trample  down  His  children's  freedom.  As  He 
has  made  them,  so  He  must  handle  and  train 
them,  and  He  is  not  handling  and  dealing  with 
individuals  alone,  but  with  churches,  nations,  and 
the  whole  family  at  once." 

**  The  brethern  in  Christ  should  not  look  back- 


THE    RED    CROSS    FLAG.  221 

ward  so  much,-— look  forward.  They  are  the  salt 
of  the  earth,  indeed,  but  some  of  them  look  back- 
ward so  much,  they  seem  to  stand  like  Lot's  wife, — 
pillars  of  salt!  Christ  has  come  and  Christianity 
is  coming.  Our  civilization  rests  on  Him.  It  must 
obey  Him.  It  must  absorb  Him  and  make  Him  its 
Saviour,  or  it  will  cease  to  exist.'' 

"  But  what  of  the  future  ?  " 

**  The  future  life,  you  know,  is  my  only  conclu- 
sion. Without  that,  this  life  would  be  an  incalcu- 
lable horror,  and  the  Cross  of  Christ  a  hateful  thing. 

**  We  are  coming  to  the  fourth  great  stage  of 
our  mundane  Christianity.  Rudimentary  Chris- 
tianity was  developing  itself  till  Rome's  decay  made 
necessary  and  forced  into  being  the  Roman  Church, 
with  its  false  theory  of  Infallibility. 

The  Arab,  I  fancy,  came  with  the  Crescent  to  the 
rescue  of  the  Cross,  and  forced  on  Europe  the  men- 
tal awakening  that  brought  the  Reformation,  with 
its  second  great  false  theory  of  the  Infallible  Book. 
We  are  now  putting  both  those  great  false  theories 
aside.  We  leave  them  behind,  like  fortresses  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  set  to  check  or  bombard  each  other. 

**  We  are  now  coming  out  of  them  and  out  of  the 
pet  English  fiction  of  the  Apostolic  succession,  to 
the  fourth  great  form  of  Christianity's  develop- 
ment, which  builds  not  on  Buddha,  Confucius,  nor 
Jesus  alone,  but  on  Christ  Jesus,as  the  one  supreme, 
ever-growing  revelation  of  God." 

*^  Ever-growing  1    Is  its  life  never  to  end  1  " 


222  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

**  Only  when  its  victories  are  ended  and  its  world - 
conquest  complete.  Only,  as  it  is  foretold,  when 
at  the  Name  of  Jesus  every  knee  shall  bow,  and 
every  tongue  confess  Him  Lord, — not  to  His 
glory,  not  to  humanity's  glory,  though  both  those 
good  things  it  will  bring — but  to  the  glory  of  God 
the  Father.'* 


THE  GOLDEN  SHOWER.  223 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 

THE      GOLDEN      SHOWER. 

These  Border  Lands  of  high  thinking,  amid 
severe  labor  and  self-sacrifice,  were  now  to  be  still 
further  extended. 

The  Golden  Gfate  of  California  had  opened  wide 
to  all  of  New  England's  dreams  and  hopes. 

No  railroad  had  yet  entered  its  Earthly  Paradise, 
and  a  month's  tedious  journey  by  Indian  trails,  or 
by  sea  and  across  the  Isthmus,  was  necessary  to 
reach  its  golden  shores. 

For  that  reason  it  sent  but  few  men  into  that 
terrible  war,  but  many  regiments  of  stalwart 
heroes  stood  ready  to  defend  its  borders  against 
all  approaches  of  secession,  and  its  golden  wealth 
had  been  sent  in  showers,  to  aid  the  great  cause  of 
the  Union. 

One  voice  above  all  others  had  spoken  the  loyalty 
of  the  whole  Pacific  coast,  and  all  hearts  had  re- 
sponded joyfully  to  the  young  Chrysostom  of  the 
West,  as  he  was  called,  after  the  golden-tongued 
orator. 

Like  the  sacred  master  he  had  served  so  faith- 
fully, his  public  ministry  in  that  border  land  was 
less  than  three  years. 

The  one  watchman  of  the  Liberal  Faith  and 


224  BORDER    LANDS    OP    FAITH. 

Loyalty  at  the  Golden  Gate  had  suddenly  fallen. 
The  trumpet  tones  of  Starr  King  could  sound  no 
more  on  that  remote  shore. 

The  beloved  Chrysostom  was  dead,  and  the  wires 
were  instantly  quivering  between  San  Francisco  and 
New  York,  with  the  terrible  news  of  the  disaster, 
and  appealing  for  help. 

Not  a  man  in  the  Liberal  Faith  could  fill  his 
place,  and  all  eyes  turned  at  once  to  the  President 
of  the  Sanitary  Commission  to  go  himself,  as  a 
temporary  relief,  to  give  them  encouragement  and 
and  hope,  until  they  could  realize  what  could  be 
done.  Within  a  single  week  the  President  and  his 
family  were  at  sea,  on  that  noble  mission,  and  with 
them  went  his  trusted  Lieutenant  from  the  West. 

The  New  York  pulpit  was  temporarily  supplied 
for  six  months,  and  an  urgent  telegram  sent  to 
Memphis  said  again,  '*  Come  at  once.'' 

That  was  the  usual  order  of  the  President  for  in- 
stant service,  and  again  it  was  the  opening  of  a 
new  life,  full  of  surprises.  Like  Paul  and  Silas, 
they  went  forth  again  from  Antioch,  over  the  bor- 
der lands,  for  new  conquests. 

With  but  a  day  of  farewell  with  Catherine  he 
was  at  sea.  Life  and  death  reveal  all  their  solem- 
nity and  grandeur  to  a  man  at  sea  for  the  first  time. 

It  may  look  lonely.  It  may  seem  unspeakably 
sad  and  depressing.  Its  tones  may  be  mournful, 
but  they  are  always  solemn  or  grand,  and  if  the 
phosphorescence  gleam  at  night  along  the  seething 


THE     GOLDEN   SHOWER.  226 

waves,  and  the  great  billows  dance  brilliantly  un- 
der a  spanking  breeze,  there  is  yet  a  suggestion  of 
the  spiritual  in  that  evanescent  light. 

Byron  speaks  of  the  sea  with  a  true  prophet's  in- 
terpretation, and  the  little  family  now  recalled  his 
noble  and  familiar  lines,  as  they  sat,  hour  after 
hour  together,  gazing  upon  the  grand  monotony  of 
the  deep. 

But  it  was  not  all  monotony.  War  flung  its  awful 
shadow  also  upon  the  sea.  That  slow  steamship 
could  not  creep  through  the  West  Indies,  without 
a  day  and  night  of  anxious  watching  and  signalling 
for  a  gunboat  convoy  over  that  pirate -haunted 
path,  and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  where  the  new 
railway  was  then  waging  a  desperate  battle  with 
the  tropic  ocean  of  vegetation,  which  threatened  to 
swallow  it  up,  seemed  to  them  to  show  the  amazing 
force  and  sleepless  vitality  of  Nature  far  better 
than  anything  they  had  ever  seen. 

They  soon  knew  why  it  was  called  the  South  Sea, 
when  they  found,  after  crossing  that  Isthmus,  that 
the  new  steamship  bore  right  on,  almost  due  south, 
for  a  whole  day  before  making  that  deflection  to 
the  west  and  northerly,  by  which  they  were  to 
traverse  nearly  the  whole  breadth  of  the  Continent, 
before  reaching  San  Francisco. 

A  vast  throng  filled  the  ship,  which  moved  on 
like  a  floating  city.  The  Sundays  came  and  went, 
with  a  grand  service,  conducted  by  the  Commis- 
sion's President. 


BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 


They  watched  at  midnight  to  see  the  Southern 
Cross  bow  gracefully  toward  the  West.  He  had 
heard  it  spoken  of  as  insignificant  and  not  at  all 
impressive,  but  it  did  not  seem  so  to  him.  Their 
ship  did  not  go  so  far  south  as  to  lift  the  Cross  too 
far  from  the  horizon  ;  and  as  it  tilted  on  its  dia- 
mond points,  they  gazed  upon  it  every  night 
adoringly. 

Even  that  little  reinforcement  of  faith  was  needed, 
when  they  confronted  California' s  great  demand,  and 
even  dreamed  of  trying  to  fill  that  great  vacancy. 

What  a  land  of  gleaming  skies,  of  smiling  flowers, 
and  of  sad,  eager  and  homesick  men.  That  land  of 
sunshine  and  hope— could  it  be  a  clime  where  life 
was  sad  and  joyless,  or  was  it  only  that  there  were 
so  many  homeless  and  disappointed  men  ? 

Was  it  their  lack  of  domestic  life,  the  absence  of 
women  and  of  children,  or  was  it  the  wine  cup  and 
the  vice  of  gambling  ?  What  a  scene  it  was,  when 
the  largest  theatre  of  the  city  was  first  filled  with 
that  great  audience,  which  welcomed  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  Sanitary  Commission. 

His  public  acknowledgments  of  their  many  pre- 
vious gifts,  had  made  his  name  a  household  word, 
on  that  coast,  where  as  yet  households  were  so  few. 

The  great  hall  was  cleared  of  its  seats,  that  the 
vast  throng  might  have  more  room  to  pack  in  closer 
and  stand.  No  ladies  ventured  into  that  close- 
packed  mass. 

Men  in  middle  life,  brown,  stern,  eager,  many  of 


THE  GOLDEN  SHOWER.  227 

them  a  dozen  years  there  without  families,  spread 
before  the  speaker  such  a  sea  of  upturned,  mascu- 
line faces,  as  no  man  ever  before  saw  in  a  civilized 
city. 

The  President,  now  fifty  years  of  age,  a  great  or- 
ator, laid  the  spell  of  his  genius  in  eloquent  speech 
on  that  multitude  of  matured  faces,  as  Homer  might 
have  laid  his  hand  upon  the  Harp.  He  wished  to 
provoke  no  outburst  of  enthusiasm  at  first,  but 
rather  to  avoid  it,  and  to  inaugurate  a  regular  sys- 
tem of  contributions,  which  should  draw  from  every 
hamlet  and  every  loyal  man  on  that  vast  coast.  He 
came,  he  said,  not  to  ask  for  money.  He  never  had 
asked  California  for  a  cent.  He  came  but  to  lay  a 
nation's  gratitude  at  her  feet,  for  what  she  had  al- 
ready voluntarily  done. 

That  word  gratitude  was  like  a  spark  upon  the 
powder.  The  tension  of  feeling  in  that  community, 
and  especially  in  that  audience,  was  something 
wonderful.  There  were  men  there  fairly  in  rebel- 
lion that  they  could  not  go  to  the  war  themselves. 
Their  brothers  were  being  slain.  Their  mothers 
and  sisters,  far  away  in  the  East,  were  day  and 
night  scraping  lint,  rolling  bandages,  and  toiling 
for  hospital  and  camp,  and  these  men,  so  far  away, 
could  take  no  part  in  it,  and  yet  so  strong. 

They  chafed  like  caged  lions,  that  they  could 
strike  no  blows,  as  they  heard  the  great  story  of 
the  battles. 

They  felt  that  they  had  done  nothing,  and  that 


228  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

word  gratitude  was  more  than  they  had  expected 
to  hear. 

An  old  miner  broke  out  with,  "  My  God  !  boys, 
hear  that !"  and  chucked  a  great  gold  piece  toward 
the  stage,  where  it  fell  on  the  green  carpet  in  plain 
sight.  It  was  one  of  those  hexagon  $50  pieces  the 
Government  was  then  coining. 

As  it  showed  its  color,  an  impulse  seized  the 
great  audience,  and  nearly  every  man  present  fol- 
lowed the  grand  example  and  opportunity,  till  a 
golden  shower  began  to  fall,  such  as  filled  every- 
body with  amazement  and  astonishment. 

Silver  dollars  were  few,  but  they  came  with  the 
rain  of  eagles,  double  eagles  and  hexagons,  till  the 
few  occupants  of  the  platform  had  to  beat  a  safe 
retreat  for  shelter,  until  the  storm  was  over.  The 
orator  probably  never  confronted  a  more  trying 
situation  than  when  he  returned  to  his  place,  the 
stage  being  literally  strewn  with  gold. 

They  had  given  him  a  grand  surprise,  and  the 
reaction  in  their  relieved  feelings  now  spoiled  his 
hold  upon  their  hearts. 

In  that  roaring  fun  and  enthusiasm,  it  was  very 
diflBcult  to  go  on  with  his  serious  discourse,  and  he 
had  to  wait,  while  the  Professor  of  Logic  took  the 
President's  tall  silk  hat,  and  proceeded  to  gather 
up  the  gold,  till  it  was  full,  when  the  weight  of  the 
treasure  so  bulged  down  the  crown,  that  it  looked 
like  a  bag,  as  he  held  it  up  by  the  rim  ;   a,t  which 


THE    GOLDEN    SHOWER.  ,       229 

the  audience  yelled,  **  Get  a  mail  bag  I  His  head 
isn't  big  enough  !  " 

Gfrotesque  fun  ruled  the  rest  of  that  meeting,  and 
was  always  a  characteristic  of  that  California  life. 

Men  soon  forget  to  smile,  when  away  from 
women  and  children.  Their  mirth  comes  in  gusts 
of  laughter,  a  sudden  outbreak,  then  a  sudden, 
almost  ominous,  silence.  Shout  now  with  the 
revellers,  and  burst  out  in  abrupt  laughter,  and 
sink  the  next  moment  into  doubt,  and  fold  the 
arms  in  sullen  vigilance,  with  a  good  revolver  in 
the  hip  pocket. 

Such  was  America's  frontier  life  in  Calfornia,  in 
1863,  closely  allied  with  that  of  her  savages  on  the 
border  lands,  whose  fortitude  and  silent  endurance 
we  have  read  of, but  of  whose  tenderness  and  fidelity 
we  have  but  little  record. 

'*The  Luck  of  Roaring  Camp,"  was  no  mere 
fancy  sketch  of  the  destitution  of  affection  in  those 
border  lands.  The  want  of  domestic  life,  of  home 
and  children,  soon  deprives  men  of  nearly  all  that 
makes  men  human  and  civilized. 

They  especially  longed  for  some  word  as  to  the 
more  permanent  interests,  and  the  never-ceasing 
conflict,  whereby  man's  faith  and  hope  ever  fight 
with  his  doubts  and  sin. 

A  life  so  earnest  and  so  unartificial,  as  that  of 
California,  always  hungers  for  a  higher  life,  and 
men  there  want  to  know  everything  of  the  faith, 


230  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

which  made  so  large  a  part  of  their  childhood's 
life. 

Theological  speculation  never  ceases  among  rude 
men,  out-of-doors  with  Nature,  whether  in  the 
Arab*s  camp,  the  hunter's  cabin,  the  miner's  gulch, 
or  in  the  sheep-ranges  of  Montana. 

Death  and  life,  with  the  sky  above  and  eternity 
before,  demand  interpretation  from  every  faithful 
human  heart. 

The  Sanitary  Commission's  President  was  one 
eminently  qualified  to  speak  to  men  in  any  walk  of 
life,  statesman  or  peasant,  and  calls  for  his  preach- 
ing came  from  every  quarter. 

Go  where  he  would  on  that  coast,  what  men  most 
wished  to  hear  was  the  word  of  hope  in  the  name 
of  Christ. 

In  the  Yosemite  Valley,  one  of  those  huge  red- 
wood trees  had  been  bored  down,  by  many  days' 
labor  of  men,  working  with  long  pump-augers,  he 
must  mount  the  huge  stump,  on  which  most  of  his 
audience  could  also  be  reverently  seated,  to  hear 
him  preach  and  pray.  What  to  them  was  the 
thousand-year  life  of  the  tree,  unless  they  could 
hear  faith  interpret  to  them  the  passing  events  of 
that  thousand  years  of  history  i 

Hither  and  thither  they  went  along  the  whole 
coast,  from  Los  Angeles  to  Oregon,  to  Nevada,  and 
down  the  slopes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  every- 
where a  centre  of  the  liveliest  interest,  as  they 
preached  often,  several  times  a  day  ;  but  the  great 


THE    GOLDEN    SHOWEE.  231 

place  in  San  Francisco  could  not  be  left  wholly 
vacant,  and  tlie  Lieutenant  had  finally  to  remain 
there,  and  hold  the  fort,  till  the  President  could 
complete  the  circle  of  his  many  appoiatments. 

Here  the  climate  began  to  tell  of  its  dangers,  for 
men  whose  nervous  temperaments  had  been  de- 
veloped under  New  England's  dark  and  fog- 
wrapped  skies.  His  own  confidence  was  now 
shrinking,  as  he  perceived,  he  knew  not  why,  the 
conditions  that  had  broken  down  the  young  Chry- 
sostom  in  the  prime  of  life. 

The  dry  air  and  the  constant,  glaring  sunshine, 
seemed  to  be  drying  up  the  very  sources  of  life  ; 
with  no  rain  and  no  shade  the  Northern  man 
begins  to  wilt  like  a  flower,  wanting  the  dew,  and 
the  more  sensitive  his  organization,  the  greater  the 
danger,  unless  he  have  that  strong  assimilation 
which  soon  acclimates  itself  to  all  countries. 

For  the  Fourth  of  July  a  score  of  places  called 
on  the  President  of  the  Commission,  to  give  the 
usual  oration,  and  they  each  spoke  in  two  places 
on  that  day. 

The  Lieutenant,  to  change  the  scene,  went  up  to 
the  Silver  Mines  at  Petaluma,  and  a  poor  substitute 
he  felt  himself  to  be,  as  he  met  there  an  immense 
and  eager  audience  of  thousands  as  he  spoke  under 
a  magnificent  tree. 

And  what  a  surprise  it  was  to  him  the  next  day, 
when  he  went  down  to  the  express  office  in  San 
Francisco,  to  receive  the  Petaluma  contribution, 


232  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

which  had  followed  his  appeal  for  the  Sanitary 
Commission. 

Three  great  sacks  were  filled  with  silver  coin. 
An  express  wagon  was  needed  to  carry  them  for 
him  to  the  bank. 

And  when  he  put  in  no  appearance  at  the  five 
o'clock  dinner  at  the  hotel,  the  President  did  not 
surmise  that  it  was  because  he  and  an  expert  clerk 
were  still  bending  over  their  task  on  the  broad 
bank  counter,  trying  to  compute  the  vast  heap  of 
old  Spanish  and  Mexican  coins  they  had  poured 
out  of  those  bags. 

Petaluma's  two  thousand  dollars  in  small,  old- 
fashioned  silver  coin,  it  took  them  several  hours 
of  extra  time  to  count.  The  task,  however,  revived 
their  spirits,  and  modified  the  dissatisfaction  with 
which  he  had  viewed  his  first  attempt  at  a  Fourth 
of  July  oration. 

It  was  the  great  day  of  Yicksburg  and  Gettys- 
burg, the  high  water  mark  of  the  great  Rebellion, 
from  which  it  waned  and  fell,  through  the  terrible 
destruction  and  despair  of  two  more  terrible  years. 
And  those  were  the  helping  hands  and  bounding 
hearts,  so  eagerly  beating,  from  Maine  to  Cali- 
fornia, behind  our  brothers  who  so  gallantly  fought 
in  those  grand  armies. 


THE    COMING    SHADOW.  233 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  COMING  SHADOW. 

Again  in  August,  the  Lieutenant  was  absent  at 
dinner  from  the  little  table  occupied  by  the  Presi- 
dent's family  at  the  Grand  Hotel.  Keen  interest 
was  excited  on  the  following  morning  when  it  was 
found  that  he  had  not  returned  to  the  hotel  during 
the  night.  No  word  of  explanation  could  be  found, 
and  sharp  anxiety  awoke  when  it  was  heard  that 
he  had  ridden  away  on  the  previous  afternoon,  and 
the  horse  had  returned  to  its  stable  in  the  evening, 
without  a  rider. 

Search  was  at  once  instituted.  A  police  patrol 
coursed  over  the  few  roads  then  stretching  south 
and  west  from  the  city,  and  not  a  word  of  informa- 
tion came  in. 

And  the  mystery  baffled  all  minds,  as  in  case  he 
had  been  robbed  or  murdered,  they  all  knew  that 
to  California  bandits  in  those  days,  the  horse  was 
worth  more  than  the  man. 

Was  it  possible  that  he  had  gone  into  the  ocean 
like  the  gifted  Rallston,  never  to  return,  or  could 
he  have  been  spirited  away  to  secure  a  ransom  ? 
Such  things  were  then  unknown  there.  In  truth, 
it  was  more  of  a  mystery  to  the  Lieutenant  himself 
than  to  anyone  else. 


234  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

One  thing  he  had  greatly  enjoyed  in  San  Fran- 
cisco :  that  was  the  excellent  roads.  With  no  soil 
to  make  dust,  and  no  rains  to  cause  mud,  those 
smooth  roadways  were  delightful,  where  he  could 
roll  away  with  a  friend,  whose  spanking  team 
swung  along  as  California  teams  then  did,  or  when 
he  could  mount  a  good  horse  and  gallop  away  to 
the  shore  of  the  Pacific  at  the  Golden  Gate. 

This  he  had  done,  on  the  day  in  question.  Every 
day  at  twelve  o'clock  he  had  noticed  that  the  wind 
began  to  rise,  blowing  in  steadily  and  powerfully 
from  the  sea,  and  before  it  rolled  a  mountain  wall 
of  vapor  striving  to  reach  and  overflow  San  Fran- 
cisco. 

As  that  foggy  front  slowly  advanced  over  the 
miles  of  sand,  between  the  city  and  the  sea,  the 
dry  air  eagerly  drank  up  the  vapor,  while  the  wind 
urged  on  the  re-inf orcements  from  behind.  Though 
the  wind  always  blew  a  gale  in  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon,  that  menacing  wall  of  mist  never  ad- 
vanced, only  inch  by  inch  as  the  dry  air  sucked  it 
up,  and  the  long  conflict  so  went  on  till  on  some 
rare  days,  the  fog  actually  invaded  the  city,  while 
a  dryer  day  or  a  feebler  wind  would  compel  it,  on 
other  days,  to  fall  back,  defeated. 

On  the  day  in  question,  he  had  checked  his 
horse  about  four  o'clock,  on  the  bluff  west  of  the 
city,  feasting  his  eyes  on  the  mountain  wall  of 
mist  before  him,  hoping  to  get  into  it  for  some 
wholesome  air,  and  turning  to  gaze  over  the  won- 


THE    COMING    SHADOW.  235 

derful  bay,  shored  with  mountains,  and  the  great 
Mt.  Diablo  looming  up  in  the  east ;  then,  dashing 
into  the  coming  fog,  he  had  enjoyed  seeing  the  city 
vanish,  and  the  sun  veil  its  face,  while  he  rode 
eagerly  on  to  the  shore  near  the  Golden  Grate,  his 
favorite  resort. 

There  was  the  little  cliff-house,  like  a  mud-spar- 
row's nest,  hanging  on  the  walls  of  the  grand  gate- 
way of  commerce  and  civilization.  There  were  the 
hugh  rocks  near  the  shore,  covered  with  the  brawl- 
ing sea-lions  clambering  over  them.  There  was  the 
grand  old  Pacific,  on  which  no  one  is  ever  weary  of 
gazing,  and  there  he  found  the  solitude  and  the 
peace  he  had  sought  of  old  in  the  Mendon  woods. 

As  he  slowly  rode  southward  along  the  firm 
sand  of  the  beach,  time  lapsed  more  swiftly  than  he 
had  observed,  until  he  was  surprised,  amidst  his 
revery  to  see  the  sun  already  sinking  below  the 
horizon,  and  to  realize  that  dinner  had  been  long 
since  called  at  the  hotel,  while  he  was  here,  many 
miles  away.  The  twilight  already  wrapped  in 
gloom  the  good  road,  when  at  last  he  regained  it, 
and  with  a  feeling  of  self-reproach  at  being  so  late, 
but  with  no  sense  of  fear,  he  urged  his  good  horse 
sharply  forward  in  a  brisk  gallop,  and  he  never 
knew  what  happened  next. 

It  was  twenty-four  hours  later,  when  he  found 
himself,  lying  in  bed,  with  a  strange  sense  of  deli- 
cious langour  and  sweet  repose  around  him.     He 


^36  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

seemed  to  hear  music,  which  had  awakened  him 
from  sleep,  and  yet  he  was  but  half  awake. 

It  did  not  occur  to  him  that  he  was  not  in  his 
own  bed  at  the  hotel.  It  presently  occurred  to  him 
that  he  was  hearing  that  music  again,  and  it  seemed 
to  be  religious  music  or  psalm  singing.  He  tried 
to  listen,  and  the  voices  of  men  now  came,  and  an 
organ  interlude :  was  he  in  Heaven  or  hearing  the 
angels  sing  1 

The  strange  chant  was  resumed,  and  he  could  no 
longer  be  mistaken — there  were  men's  voices 
chanting  the  service  of  the  Roman  Church.  How 
could  he  be  listening  to  Monks  intoning  Latin  1 
Where  was  he  ?    Indeed  who  was  he  ? 

It  was  certain  that  he  did  not  know  where  he 
was,  and  that  he  seemed  not  to  know  who  he  was  ; 
but  he  was  serenely  happy  and  at  rest,  as  though 
he  were  asleep  in  Nirvana. 

All  connection  with  his  recent  life  was  lost ;  no 
thought  of  California  entered  his  mind  ;  but  he 
dreamed  of  Catherine,  and  he  wondered  if  she  were 
still  in  Rome,  and  gazing  at  Alpha  Lyrae.  His 
mind  kindly  dwelt  upon  her  image,  and  then  the 
picture  changed  and  she  seemed  to  be  the  Madonna, 
with  the  Child  lying  in  her  lap,  and  then  it 
changed  again,  and  he  saw  his  dear  little  boy 
Theodore,  with  Catherine's  Madonna  smile  hover- 
ing above  him. 

He  had  no  thought  of  asking  any  question,  and 
not  a  thought  of  all  that  had  occurred  since  he  left 


THE    COMIl^G    SHADOW.  237 

New  England,  yet  entered  his  mind.  He  felt  no 
curiosity,  and  seemed  to  be  perfectly  at  rest,  at 
ease,  at  home,  and  wishing  to  dream  again. 

He  slowly  turned  his  eyes  about  the  large  room, 
dimly  seen  by  the  light  of  a  small  wood  fire  smold- 
ering in  a  wide  chimney,  and  was  dozing  again, 
when  a  kind  voice  near  him  said,  *'are  you  well, 
my  brother  V ' 

He  then  stared  at  the  speaker  in  amazed  silence. 
A  monk  indeed  stood  before  him,  an  old  man,  an 
Italian — no,  more  like  a  Spaniard.  They  stared  at 
each  other  in  silence,  each  confronting  the  unfamil- 
iar image  of  a  total  stranger. 

His  eager,  wild  gaze  now  alarmed  his  visitor, 
who  partly  turned  and  spoke  in  Spanish  to  some 
one  behind  him,  when  another  monk  came  in  from 
the  corridor  and  said  kindly,  "  Are  you  well,  my 
brother  r' 

Then  he  suspected  he  had  been  drugged,  and 
rousing  himself  upright  he  fiercely  demanded, 
''Where  am  I?" 

''  In  the  house  of  friends,"  kindly  answered  the 
padre. 

"But  where,  where  am  I ? "  he  again  sternly  ex- 
claimed. 

The  padre  advanced  and  placed  his  hand  with  a 
benediction  on  the  invalid's  brow  as  he  answered, 
**With  the  brethren  of  the  Holy  Cross  of  Christ, 
my  brother.    His  peace  be  unto  you." 

A  mother's  voice  could  not  have  been  more  gen- 


238  BORDER    LATTDS    OF    FAITH. 

tie  and  loving,  and  as  the  blessing  fell  the  invalid 
fell  back  exhausted  and  feeling  indeed  very  faint, 
but  safe  as  if  in  his  mother's  arms.  The  padre 
signed  with  his  hand  for  his  assistant  to  withdraw, 
and  presently,  after  gazing  earnestly  upon  the  suf- 
ferer, he,  with  another  blessing,  also  withdrew. 

Hours  seemed  to  pass  in  a  half  conscious  condi- 
tion, and  the  delicious  dreams  came  again,  and  he 
only  felt  there  was  no  cause  for  alarm,  as  he  evi- 
dently was  in  the  care  of  men  devout  and  kind,  and 
his  only  thought  was,  let  me  dream  again. 

But  why  that  strange  look  with  which  the  padre 
had  tried  to  search  his  face  ?  Had  he  been  ill,  or 
insane,  and  where  was  he  ?  It  did  not  occur  to  him 
that  they  were  more  puzzled  with  him  than  he  was 
with  them.  The  thought  flashed  over  him  that  he 
had  been  insane,  and  that  this  was  now  an  asylum 
where  they  were  trying  to  deceive  him  for  his  good. 

He  lay  still  and  listened.  Presently  a  bell 
sounded,  a  silver-toned  bell,  rung  lightly,  as  if 
giving  some  religious  summons  ;  then  all  was  still. 
There  was  no  sound  from  the  streets,  no  patter  of 
footsteps,  no  rumble  of  wheels,  no  sound  of  a  city. 
As  he  listened  there  came  from  without  the  light 
whistle  of  a  bird,  which  instantly  caught  his  ear. 
It  was  a  sad  and  peculiar  note,  and  seemed  to  say, 
''Poor  Will,  poor  Will!" 

He  knew  it  at  once,  as  again  and  again  it 
had  sounded   at  evening  in  the  suburbs  of  San 


THE    COMING    SHADOW.  239 

Francisco,  as  the  peculiar  note  of  the  California 
Whippoorwill,  which  omits  the  first  syllable. 

He  had  never  heard  that  elsewhere,  and  it  awoke 
at  once  an  amazed  feeling  which  poured  over  him 
as  the  bird-note  restored  the  lost  link  in  his  fading 
memory,  and  there  rushed  back  upon  him  all  the 
vivid  picture  of  his  recent  life. 

He  remembered  it  all  now.  Vividly  he  recalled 
his  ride  of  the  day  before,  his  delight  in  gazing  on 
the  sea,  his  eager  gallop  toward  the  city — there  it 
stopped. 

He  was  sure  he  had  never  reached  the  city,  and 
where  was  he,  and  was  that  the  day  before,  or  had 
years  passed  since  then  ?  He  sprang  out  of  bed  to 
dress,  but  he  found  that  he  only  had  a  capacious 
night-robe  of  soft  home-spun  flannel,  such  as  he 
had  never  seen. 

He  called  aloud,  and  the  elderly  padre  came  at 
once,  and  a  servant  behind  him  bearing  a  tray  cov- 
ered with  a  light  repast,  with  fresh  figs  and  grapes, 
the  sight  of  which  assured  him  that  be  was  still  in 
California. 

"Please  tell  me,"  he  said,  ''whose  kindness  has 
so  well  cared  for  me  here  ?" 

"That  of  Christ  Jesus,"  he  said,  "and  of  his 
servants,  who,  by  God's  grace,  keep  the  mission  of 
San  Dolores," 

"Ah,  the  old  Spanish  mission  !  Then,  indeed,  I 
am  safe,  but  how  came  I  here  ? " 

The  padre  then  explained  that  the  night  before,  a 


340  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

horse  had  galloped  fiercely  past  their  door,  as  they 
sat  at  supper,  and  a  belated  brother  coming  in  soon 
after  had  found  an  insensible  man  lying  near  their 
gate. 

They  knew  no  more,  and  their  duty  seemed  plain. 
As  he  had  straggled  in  his  sleep,  they  had  given 
him  a  light  anodyne  to  quiet  his  nerves,  and 
awaited  the  blessing  of  God  for  his  recovery. 
*'Are  you  well,  my  brother?"  he  said  again, 
kindly. 

Curiosity  was  now  singularly  absent  from  his 
mind.  It  did  not  even  occur  to  him  that  his  disap- 
pearance might  alarm  the  city.  He  was  perfectly 
at  rest,  and  fell  back  and  slept  again,  as  though 
amidst  the  most  congenial  surroundings. 

He  took  it  for  granted  that  he  should  again  pass 
the  night  in  those  pleasant  quarters,  and  it  seemed 
but  the  gratification  of  a  wish  long  cherished,  and 
many  a  time  spoken  of  with  kindly  interest  and 
longing,  that  he  should  sometimes  visit  the  old 
mission  of  San  Dolores. 

Doubtless  the  city's  vigorous  growth  has  now 
wholly  swallowed  up  the  waste  of  sand,  which  then 
separated  the  old  mission  from  the  city,  but  in 
1863  the  quaint  old  buildings  lay  two  miles  away 
toward  the  southwest,  and  where  the  only  tram- 
way then  turned  to  the  south.  In  those  outer  sub- 
urbs, a  man  was  then  kept  shovelling  all  the  early 
afternoon,  lest  the  sand  drifting  before  that  dismal 
gale  should  wholly  bury  that  car  track  out  of  sight. 


THE    COMING    SHADOW.  241 

The  good  padre's  anodyne  was  probably  stronger 
than  he  had  intended,  as  it  evidently  was  still  tan- 
gling the  over-sensitive  brain  of  the  visitor,  till  his 
sense  of  peaceful  security  and  content  was  such, 
that  he  slept  away  the  whole  afternoon  and  most 
of  the  following  dreamless  night. 

The  padre  came  again  in  the  morning,  bearing 
strong  coffee,  and  looking  far  more  disturbed  than 
his  patient,  as  the  servant  again  brought  the  break- 
fast, and  placed  beside  the  plate  a  morning  news- 
paper. 

They  watched  him  closely,  as  after  the  coffee  he 
took  up  that  morning  paper.  And  well  they 
might. 

The  anodyne  was  now  gone,  and  in  a  moment  he 
saw  his  name  displayed  in  great  letters  at  the  head 
of  the  page,  with  all  the  usual  newspaper  catch- 
penny magnifyings.  Mysterious  disappearance  I 
Suspected  defalcation  !  The  Treasurer  of  the  Sani- 
tary Commission  probably  robbed  and  murdered  I 
And  a  column  of  particulars  of  the  return  of  the 
riderless  horse. 

The  president  could  give  no  information,  nor  say 
whether  the  funds  were  intact  or  not.  The  horse 
had  evidently  been  hard  ridden,  and  not  a  clue 
could  be  found  of  what  had  become  of  the  rider. 

The  visitor  was  no  longer  an  invalid,  but  amazed 
that  he  could  have  been  so  oblivious  to  the  alarm 
his  absence  would  cause.  He  blamed  the  padre, 
dressed  in  haste,  and  rushed  away  breakfastless 


242  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

toward  the  city,  hardly  pausing  to  be  civil,  and 
quite  despising  the  slowness  of  the  little  donkey 
they  urged  him  to  accept  for  the  journey. 

He  made  straight  for  the  hotel,  with  several 
people  who  recognized  and  followed  him,  and  as  he 
rushed  into  the  anxious  group  gathered  in  the 
President's  parlor,  he  looked  like  an  insane  man 
escaped  from  an  asylum,  and  more  and  more  so  as 
he  tried  to  explain,  and  found  that  he  could  say 
nothing  which  anybody  would  accept  without 
suspicion. 

He  could  easily  have  said  that  he  had  been 
thrown  from  his  horse  and  injured  accidentally, 
but  that  was  not  the  truth,  and  as  he  told  as  quietly 
as  he  could  the  little  that  he  knew,  an  air  of  in- 
credulity and  compassion  crept  over  the  faces  of  all 
that  heard  him.  They  scattered  to  talk  together, 
and  all  felt  that  he  was  concealing  something,  some 
lapse  from  rectitude,  some  fiasco,  they  all  felt  sure, 
lay  back  of  his  poor  explanation. 

The  President,  who  had  passed  a  most  wakeful 
night,  looked  perplexed  and  troubled,  but  he 
privately  drove  out  at  once  to  the  old  mission  to 
learn  the  truth.  When  he  knew  it  all  he  looked 
on  his  friend  sadly,  as  though  he  had  lost  confi- 
dence in  the  future,  and  their  relations  of  perfect 
trust  seemed  broken.  That  completed  his  disaster, 
and  if  he  was  not  insane  before,  he  was  so  near  it 
now  that  he  knew  not  which  way  to  turn. 

The  doctors  consulted  and  said  he  was  sunsick ; 


THE    COMING    SHADOW.  243 

that  an  over-sensitive  nervous  system  was  sometimes 
affected  that  way  in  California,  as  in  Denver,  and  in 
any  thin  and  dry  air,  which  seemed  to  make  the 
nerves  brittle,  so  that  they  would  break  or  fail 
when  least  expected,  and  cause  a  sudden  fit  of 
nervous  prostration. 

That  was  what  had  happened  when  he  had  fallen 
insensible  from  his  horse.  He  now  wrote  all  this 
earnestly  to  Catherine,  saying  that  he  should  re- 
turn at  once  to  New  England  as  soon  as  a  new  pas- 
tor could  be  selected  for  the  Golden  Gate. 

He  remained  till  October,  and  then  gave  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship  to  the  new  pastor,  saying : 
**No  man  can  fill  the  place  of  our  lost  Chrysostom, 
but  you  can  make  here  a  place  for  yourself  which 
after  you  no  man  can  fill." 

The  air  was  yet  full  of  the  most  tender  and  re- 
gretful memories  of  Starr  King.  Round  him  the 
whole  loyalty  of  that  coast  had  rallied.  His  church 
had  come  to  be  a  gathering  of  strong  men,  generals 
and  judges,  wealthy  merchants,  eminent  lawyers, 
governors  of  States  and  territories,  senators  and 
legislators,  and  all  men  of  large  influence  and  high 
hope,  there  felt  themselves  at  home,  so  that  it  came 
to  be  for  once  the  established  church. 


244  BORDER    LAiq-DS    OF    FAITH.. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

ALL  AT  SEA. 

He  was  thoroughly  sun-sick,  and  longing  for 
clouds  and  rain.  A  hundred  days  had  passed  with- 
out a  cloud  in  the  sky.  The  occasional  and  rare 
fog  from  the  Pacific,  which  usually  kept  well  out 
to  sea,  had  been  his  only  relief. 

He  was  deeply  grateful  when  once  more  afloat 
upon  the  ocean,  the  great  steamer  swimming  slowly 
southward  toward  the  storm.  Yet  monotony  would 
soon  have  made  him  weary,  but  for  the  variety 
offered  by  the  shore,  and  by  the  picturesque  life  the 
ship  carried  within. 

This  coast  itself,  shore  and  sea,  was  historic 
ground.  He  was  now  in  the  track  of  the  bold  navi- 
gators who,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cent- 
uries, had  dared  to  explore  these  remote  coasts. 

Here,  into  the  grand  bay  of  San  Francisco,  and 
on  even  to  Oregon,  had  come  Sir  Francis  Drake  in 
1666,  and  others  before  and  after  him. 

A  night  at  Acapulco  was  a  thing  to  remember. 
The  moon  had  nearly  set  when  they  crept  in  through 
the  narrow  gate,  between  the  mountains,  and  swung 
round  southward  to  anchor  in  that  wonderful  har- 
bor, set  amid  lofty  mountains,  which  wrap  them- 
selves in  dense  tropical  forests  to  their  lofty  tops. 


ALL    AT    SEA.  245 

A  city  was  there  somewhere,  though  invisible  as 
yet,  but  soon  a  myriad  lights,  small,  separate,  slow, 
began  to  creep  toward  the  ship  on  every  side.  The 
canoes  of  the  natives  had  been  waiting  for  her, 
ready  laden  with  their  store  of  semi-tropical  fruits, 
and  semi-savage  curiosities. 

The  paddles  slowly  felt  their  way  along,  while 
the  owner  of  each  little  commercial  venture,  lighted 
his  great  torch  in  the  bow  to  show  the  fruits,  the 
bead- work,  the  shells,  all  less  attractive  than  the 
brown  Mexican  faces  so  picturesquely  lighted  up. 

The  few  passengers  now  on  board,  bartered  with 
those  shrewd  barbarians,  tossing  silver  coin  down 
to  the  canoes,  and  lowering,  by  a  cord,  baskets  or 
pails,  to  draw  up  the  purchased  treasures.  Now 
came  the  sound  of  rowing,  heavy,  slow,  regular, 
laborious.  What  could  it  mean  ?  What  occasion 
was  there,  amid  these  wild  surroundings,  for  the 
toil  of  the  galley-slaves,  for  such  it  seemed  ? 

One  small  lantern  only,  in  the  long  boat's  bow, 
was  all  that  could  be  seen,  and  that  seemed  hardly 
to  move  at  all,  though  presently  it  dimly  revealed 
eight  sturdy  rowers,  bending  and  rising  with  their 
long  and  powerful  strokes. 

As  they  approached  the  ship,  some  heavy  black 
mass  appeared  afloat  behind  the  boat,  and  presently 
appeared  the  heads  of  a  score  or  more  of  wild  cattle, 
trailed  up  to  the  barge  by  their  horns,  while  their 
bodies  were  wholly  immersed  in  the  sea. 

It  was  the  primitive  way  of  fetching  their  beef  on 


246  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

board,  and  soon,  by  a  single  rope,  looped  about 
those  horns,  each  huge  ox  was  swiftly  run  up 
toward  the  yard-arm,  by  a  powerful  steam  windlass, 
and  lifted  bodily  out  of  the  sea,  dangling  by  that 
one  thread,  and  kicking  and  bawling  vigorously, 
till  swung  on  board  by  the  derrick  and  deftly 
dropped  in  the  hold. 

Full  of  such  pictures  seemed  to  be  that  night  at 
Acapulco  and  the  steak  was  good,  when  again  at 
day  break,  the  great  ship  swung  round  and  swept 
out  to  sea. 

But  life  on  the  Pacific  could  not  well  be  monoto- 
nous, with  that  motley  gathering  of  all  nations  on 
the  ship,  and  he  never  missed  the  President  so 
much  as  when,  on  the  following  Sunday,  he  was 
asked  to  preach  to  that  curious  assemblage. 

The  flag  beautifully  wreathed  the  capstan  on 
deck,  whereon  the  good  book  lay.  Singing  they 
did  not  attempt,  but  prayer  was  easy,  where  all 
hearts  had  such  varied  experiences,  and  were  so  full 
of  home-coming  memories  of  earlier  days. 

Many  nations,  many  faiths,  mingled  in  that  little 
group  of  worshippers,  as  he  tried  to  speak,  first  of 
that  which  is  common  to  all  Christians,  and  then 
of  what  is  common  to  all  men,  in  universal  depend- 
ence and  need  of  God,  and  finally  of  the  messen- 
gers of  Christ,  coming  to  explore  this  western 
world,  coming  not  to  defraud  ignorant  savages,  as 
some  explorers  had  done,  but  to  plant  the  Cross,  as 
a  symbol  of  a  better  civilization. 


ALL    AT    SEA.  247 

Thus  the  French  Catholics,  going  from  Canada, 
before  1700,  into  the  upper  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, there  met  the  earlier  Spanish  Catholics,  going 
into  New  Mexico  and  Colorado,  from  California, 
pioneers  of  their  sovereigns  indeed,  but  inspired 
and  supported  by  another  sovereign,  and  protected 
by  no  worldly  power. 

The  immunity  with  which  that  up-lifted  Cross 
went  forth  alone  into  the  midst  of  savage  peoples, — 
the  sacred  spirit  which  enabled  it  to  go  in  safety, — 
the  hopes  which  went  with  it,  and  founded  missions 
like  that  of  San  Dolores,— the  motive  which  led 
scholarly  men  to  expatriate  themselves  for  the  sake 
of  rude  savages, — the  zeal  for  service  which  led  to 
self-sacrifice, — these  were  topics  which  hold  the 
attention  of  rude  or  cultered  men,  alike. 

On  such  themes,  his  voice  gave  no  uncertain 
sound,  and  he  felt  that  his  words  made  an  impres- 
sion that  Sabbath  day  on  the  Pacific,  as  if  his 
thought  had  the  whole  weight  and  momentum  of 
Christian  History  behind  it. 

Among  the  hearers  that  day,  was  a  scientist,  the 
superintendent  of  mines  at  Yirginia  City,  Mr.  Ab- 
bott, a  Harvard  college  man,  now  returning  to  his 
home  in  Boston. 

After  the  sermon,  as  they  met  on  the  deck,  he 
said,  **  Professor,  I  supposed  you  were  a  Unitarian, 
but  you  appear  to  believe  in  Christianity." 

**  Yes,  I  might  say  I  don't  believe  in  anything 
else,  but  what  do  you  mean  by  Christianity  ?" 


248  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

**Imean,"  said  Abbott,  ''the  belief  that  Christ 
was  not  born  as  other  men  are,  that  he  had  con- 
scious pre-existence  before  the  advent ;  that  he  was 
at  once  raised  bodily  from  the  dead,  and  he  now 
sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God.'^ 

*'Well  I  do  not  believe  either  of  those  propo- 
sitions." 

"Then  how  can  you  preach  as  you  did  to-day? 
And  what  does  the  word  mean  to  you  1 " 

"  I  mean  by  Christianity,"  he  replied,  '*  a  certain 
vital  movement  in  the  progress  of  human  life, 
which  Divine  Wisdom  prepared,  and  is  now  con- 
ducting, for  the  civilization  of  the  world." 

*'But  mtal  movements  began  with  Adam,  long 
before  the  time  of  Jesus." 

*'Not  so.  Adam  is  a  myth,  but  Jesus  is  a  real- 
ity, and  this  movement  began  at  the  Cross  of 
Christ,  which  constantly  changes  and  betters  the 
the  vital  conditions  and  relations  of  communities, 
and  of  individuals. 

*'  All  previous  civilizations  were  practically  a 
failure,  and  God  swept  them  away  by  Jesus. 

**  Christian  civilization  supersedes  them  all,  and 
has  apparently  come  to  stay,  and  this  movement 
rests  on  certain  fundamental  beliefs.  Yet  a  con- 
stant change  in  the  beliefs  is  a  very  important  part 
of  it. 

'*  Few  things  are  believed  now,  as  they  were  by 
Pilate,  when  he  longingly  asked.  What  is  Truth  ? 

'*Thi8  movement  rests  on  God,  rather  than  on 


ALL    AT    SEA.  249 

any  one's  belief  in  God,  and  it  is  not  affected  by 
any  man's  belief  or  disbelief  in  God,  as  the  same 
sun  shines  on  the  Atheist  as  on  the  Christian. 

*' God  is  in  it,  notwithstanding  the  Atheist,  who 
merely  quibbles  over  the  name  of  God,  and  prefers 
to  call  it  by  another  name,  without  ever  disputing 
the  reality. 

*'  But  if  our  spiritual  life  does  not  rest  on  beliefs 
or  convictions  of  truth — on  what  does  it  depend  1 " 

**  On  passions,  on  feelings,  on  affections,  on  vital 
forces,  love  and  hate,  hope  and  fear— on  the  motive 
powers  by  which  God  moves  men  to  act." 

*'  Then  my  love  for  my  creed,  is  at  war  with  the 
Catholic's  love  for  his  creed,  by  God's  will." 

**  Certainly.  How  else  could  it  exist.  It  is  God's 
way  of  advancing  the  movement,  and  he  seems  to 
succeed  in  it,  in  spite  of  our  doubts  and  quib- 
blings." 

**  Then  why  is  not  a  false  creed  as  good  as  a  true 
one,  if  they  both  get  there  all  the  same  ? " 

** Certainly  not;  they  do  not  both  get  there. 
Falsehood  is  transient  in  its  nature,  while  truth  is 
eternal,  being  God's  word  in  Nature,  only  needing 
to  be  understood. 

*•  How  well  our  gifted  Bryant  has  expressed  that : 

"  *  Truth  crushed  to  earth  shall  rise  again. 

The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers, 
But  error,  wounded,  writhes  in  pain. 

And  dies  amid  her  worshippers.' 


260  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

**  All  our  beliefs  and  theories  have  been  largely 
erroneous,  as  you  know." 

"Yes,  I  know  that ;  but  I  did  not  suppose  you 
would  admit  it — least  of  all  of  your  own  religious 
convictions." 

"Man's  religious  affections  are  full  of  truth  ;  his 
convictions  and  beliefs  have  always  been  but  tis- 
sues of  error.  It  is  the  glory  of  Christianity  that 
it  rests  on  affections,  which  are  true,  and  not  on 
opinions  which  are  false. 

"  Man's  affections  make  no  chan^jje  ;  his  opinions 
change,  and  should  change,  with  every  hour  of  life 
and  must  do  so  if  new  evidence  arises,  as  belief  is 
involuntary." 

"  Well,  it  is  just  that  distracting  confusion, 
which  drives  men  of  science  away  from  the  church, 
to  find  secure  foundations." 

"  Well,  do  you  find  them  ?  That  is  one  of  the 
most  untrue  convictions  man  ever  held.  You  men  of 
science  have  true  affection  for  knowledge,  but  you 
are  handling  more  false  convictions  than  all  the 
churchmen  together." 

"Well,  how  would  even  that,  if  true,  help  faith 
in  Christianity  ? " 

"  It  admits  the  whole  of  it.  You  cannot  study 
thisplanet  and  leave  out  Christianity.  It  is  the 
one  conspicuous,  crowning  fact  among  all  the  phe- 
nomena which  make  up  the  life  of  this  planet. 

"  This  movement  in  human  life,  God  inaugurated 


ALL    AT    SEA. 


in  his  own  time  and  way,  and  he  is  developing  it  in 
his  own  method. 

*'  Our  interpretations  of  it  are  poor  enough,  but 
they  are  the  best  we  could  make.  We  have  no 
pre- vision.  What  God  is  doing  we  only  find  out 
after  it  is  done.  Vital  processes,  the  origin  of  life, 
he  still  hides  in  mystery. 

''The  creeds  were  doubtless  the  best  men  could 
make,  when  they  were  made,  but  God  will  lead  us 
in  his  own  way  and  time,  to  make  them  better,  as 
he  is  now  doing." 

"But  how  little  we  really  know  I " 

*'  We  know,  at  least,  that  the  foundations  of  our 
life  are  these  great  primary  affections,  out  of  which 
spring  domestic  life  and  the  religious  lile,  and  that 
society  does  not  rest  so  much  on  knowledge  as  on 
affection  and  faith. 

"  The  fact  is  that  the  Universe  itself,  is  a  living 
thing,  that  Space  is  but  the  Divine  Extension, 
th€  Spiritual  body  of  Deity,— the  fact,  that  God 
covereth  himself  with  Light  as  with  a  garment." 

As  they  thus  stood,  the  starry  night  fell  around 
them  and  they  beheld  the  spangled  heavens. 

*'  Is  there  life  there  ? "  asked  the  scientist. 

'*  Yes,  yes.  Yonder  suns  are  but  specks  of  gold 
dust  on  the  royal  robe.  The  garment  itself  fills  all 
space.  It  is  this  space,  luminiferous,  quivering 
everywhere  with  the  one  Life." 

* '  I  understand  you.  I  agree  with  you  that  light 
is  identical  with  this  interstellar  shiver,  which  we 


262         BOEDER  LAKDS  OF  FAITH. 

call  electricity,  which  also  is  the  one  manifestation 
of  force  that  may  yet  account  for  all  the  rest." 

**  And  you  agree  that  this  quivering  of  life  must 
have  had  a  beginning  1 " 

*'  Yes,  and  must  have  an  ending,  too.  An  end- 
ing when  the  material  universe  and  all  molecular 
organization  would  vanish  away,  and  leave  not  a 
wreck  behind." 

**  Possibly,  possibly.  Well,  I  shall  be  ready  for 
that  ending,  or  for  my  own,  while  I  feel  sure  of 
that  beginning.  Grant  that,  whatever  that  primal 
impulse  may  have  been,  and  I  am  sure  that  the 
whole  is  alive,  and  the  universe  but  the  living  gar- 
ment of  the  living  God." 

It  suggests  the  courtship  of  motion  and  matter 
before  planetary  systems  were  born  of  them. 

The  celestial  space  was  never  vacuous,  but  light 
and  heat  were  always  playing  in  it,  as  the  children 
of  motion  and  matter.  Their  laughter  thrills  across 
the  endless  lines  of  electric  ether,  revealing  comets 
and  meteors  as  mere  pollen  bearers  of  the  Universe, 
carrying  life  from  new  worlds  to  old,  as  the  Sun 
stokes  his  furnace  with  dead  planets,  and  girds 
tighter  his  belt  to  throw  off  a  new  system. 

It  teaches  eternal  life,  rising  always  to  higher 
perfection,  through  endless  spheres  and  systems, 
and  also  explains  the  evanescent  flame  and  flower 
of  the  human  senses  in  sensation,  consciousness  and 
thought,  but  how  and  to  what  result  ? 


ALL    AT    SEA.  253 

Ah !  there's  the  rub — where  the  unknowable 
begins. 

**The  luminiferous  ether  is  not  material  you 
think  ^    Is  there  friction  there  ? " 

**  No,  no.  It  is  spiritual.  At  least  it  is  the  semi- 
spiritual  vehicle  of  the  Divine  Will,  whereby  God 
is  creating  and  sustaining  all.  The  mutual  re- 
pulsion of  its  atoms  or  space-points  or  force- 
centres,  is  infinite.  Science  cannot  measure  it, 
yet  the  planet  masses  do  intercept  it,  at  least  in 
part." 

'*  Certainly,  and  thence  comes  through  the  lateral 
distortion  that  local  pressure  which  holds  us  to  the 
planet.     Thence  comes  gravitation,  does  it  not?" 

''  Plausibly,  I  grant ;  but  our  difiiculty  comes  in  so 
reversing  in  part,  your  infinite  power  of  levitation, 
as  to  group  your  force-centre  atoms  into  our  pri- 
mary molecules." 

'*I  know,  and  that  I  leave  the  men  of  the  labor- 
atory to  study  out  at  their  leisure.  Your  theory 
will  come  in  time.  The  greater  fact  we  have 
already." 

**  But  can  we  know  him  ?" 

''We  know  nothing  absolutely.  Life  does  not 
rest  on  knowledge.  Does  the  babe  unborn,  even 
the  nursing  child,  Tcnow  its  mother  %  It  recognizes  ; 
its  love  knows.  So  does  ours.  Our  need  knows. 
What  else  could  \  We  make  too  much  of  knowl- 
edge. We  are  but  nursing  children.  We  only 
feel  that  love  is  our  life." 


254  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

ET  FILIOQUE. 

Thee,  God,  we  cannot  comprehend, 
Yet  tireless  Faith  to  thee  will  tend 
And  apprehend  Thee,  while  we  see 

All  thought  begins  and  ends  in  Thee. 

We  cannot  see  Thee.     Eyes  were  made 
To  see  not  light,  but  only  shade, 

And  yet  our  souls,  our  eyes  and  mind 
No  gap,  no  void,  no  vacuum  find. 

We  see  when  fairest  friends  we  view 

Not  love,  but  faces  love  shines  through. 

Thy  Grace,  like  music  fills  our  sphere. 
The  soul  must  grasp  it,  not  the  ear. 

So  lead  us  Lord,  in  Thee  to  hide. 

With  eyes,  mind,  heart,  all  open  wide, 

While  like  the  sunlight  to  the  rose 
Thy  Holy  Spirit  round  us  flows. 


THE    MINISTRY    OF    GRACE.  265 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  MINISTRY  OF  GRACE. 

The  Southern  Cross  was  already  tilting  toward 
the  West,  as  Abbot  now  withdrew,  repeating 
**  Love  is  our  life,''  and  wishing  that  he  knew  more 
about  it. 

The  Professor  remained  standing  on  the  forward 
deck,  feeling  rather  than  saying,  '*  Love  is  our 
life." 

He  had  a  faith  that  was  without  fear.  He  knew 
enough  of  science  not  to  be  afraid  of  it.  He  had 
never  put  on  any  theological  fetters.  He  looked 
Nature  in  the  face  as  fearlessly  and  as  trustfully  as 
Plato  did. 

And  as  that  good  ship  now  swung  slowly  round 
the  Cape,  his  eager  spirit  rushed  forward  to  the 
union  with  Catherine  and  his  boy,  as  the  recovery 
of  all  that  was  most  dear. 

But  of  all  that  he  foresaw,  his  pulpit  seemed  now 
to  him  the  most  important. 

•*  There  is  nothing  like  it,"  he  said,  thinking  of 
the  Ministry  of  Grace.  **  Nothing  else  deals  so 
directly  with  life  itself.  Sciences  are  but  mend- 
ing our  roads  and  cobbling  our  shoes.  Col- 
leges are  but  training  minds  and  trying  not  to  spoil 


266  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

the  good  work  the  mothers  of  those  boys  have 
already  done.  Merchants  are  but  feeding  and 
clothing  men.  But  while  the  mothers  and  the 
homes  are  making  men,  the  Minister  of  Christ  is 
most  directly  and  powerfully  aiding  in  their  work, 
as  he  is  dealing  at  first  hand  with  Life  itself. 

Eagerly  his  ardent  spirit  now  looked  forward  to 
his  own  home  circle,  and  to  that  New  England  par- 
ish he  was  ai  once  to  seek.  Merciful  Providence, 
how  kindly  thou  dost  still  lead  us  on  by  the  gentle 
hand  of  hope ! 

He  would  have  been  far  less  bold  in  seeking  his 
new  parish,  had  it  not  been  that  Catherine  was  now 
with  him  in  spirit.  Her  confidence  in  him  gave  him 
a  confidence  in  himself  he  would  never  otherwise 
have  had. 

He  always  felt  that  what  he  was  saying,  she  was 
doing  ;  and  he  often  said,  as  the  two  drove  away  on 
Sunday  morning,  to  some  parish  near  Boston,  *'I 
go  to  preach  ;  she,  to  practice." 

He  felt  that  it  was  true ;  and  while  he  seemed 
himself,  since  his  California  breakdown,  of  small 
value  to  any  people,  in  her  he  felt  sure  they  would 
find  a  treasure  worth  their  seeking.  His  self-dis- 
trust seemed  to  find  no  echo,  however,  amongst 
these  kindly  people. 

Boston  was  worthy  of  all  love  and  honor,  not 
merely  because  her  cultured  classes  abhorred  sham 
and  show,  while  they  gave  to  the  world  pens  like 
those  of  Prescott,   Ticknoi^,  Motley,  Lowell  and 


THE    MINISTRY    OF    GRACE.  267 

Bancroft ;  but  because  a  true  courtesy,  born  of  real 
kindness  and  gentleness,  pervaded  all  ranks  of  her 
people. 

The  old  Puritan  severity  had  now  softened  into  a 
gentle  but  exacting  demand  of  duty,  which  kept 
manners  quiet  and  sincere,  and  held  her  wealth  up 
to  a  mental  ejffort  and  attainment,  which  kept  her 
culture  from  sinking  into  imbecility. 

Her  churches  were  in  a  curiously  comatose  con- 
dition. The  old  Calvinism  was  dead,  but  its  intel- 
lectual habit  survived,  and,  as  a  result,  people  ap- 
proached all  religious  subjects  and  establishments 
with  none  of  the  fervid  imagination,  which  made, 
and  which  alone  can  appreciate,  the  glory  of  the 
Roman  Church,  yet  with  none  of  the  passion  Luther 
threw  into  the  Reformation. 

Boston  pulpits  were  without  much  insight  or 
zeal,  and  a  respectable  conformity  went  to  church 
on  Sunday,  merely  at  the  impulse  of  prudence  and 
propriety. 

To  them  Christ  was  synonymous  with  Jesus,  and 
the  difference  between  them  was  neither  understood 
nor  appreciated. 

Jesus  was  regarded  only  as  an  example,  or  a 
pattern  to  be  consciously  imitated,  yet  with  none 
of  the  ardent  love  and  glowing  devotion,  which 
give  wings  to  the  feet  of  a  Christian,  who  recog- 
nizes the  Christ. 

Worship  was,  therefore,  self-conscious  and  al- 
most mechanical,  and  real  devotion  and  prayers, 


258  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

outside  of  the  pulpit,  were  becoming  unknown.  The 
ardent  soul  of  Transcendentalism  had  withdrawn 
from  Boston's  pulpit,  and  was  communing  with 
Nature  in  Walden  woods. 

The  Boston  pulpit,  having  lost  Calvin's  Grod,  had 
not  found  Emerson's  Oversoul,  nor  the  Christian's 
Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ ;  and  its  trumpets, 
therefore,  gave  forth  so  uncertain  a  sound,  that  its 
host  was  halting  at  the  dividing  of  the  ways,  where 
intellectual  speculation  was  to  distract  and  hold 
them,  until  man's  natural  love  of  religion  and  wor- 
ship brought  back  both  the  glory  and  the  peril  of 
an  ecclesiastical  revival,  which  restored  worship  to 
its  place,  even  though  it  brought  the  Puritan  to 
the  Prayer-book  and  the  Kitual. 

In  1864,  the  bolder  spirits  among  the  younger 
men,  who  had  been  well-trained  intellectually,  yet 
knew  nothing  by  experience  as  to  what  Christian- 
ity really  is,  deemed  organic  Christianity  a  thing 
of  the  past,  and  dreamed  of  such  a  union  between 
nominal  Christians,  Buddhists  and  Mohammedans, 
as  would  come  when  each  abandoned  all  the  special 
characteristics  of  its  own  faith. 

These  radicals  were  soon  lost  in  the  mere  efflor- 
escence of  Transcendentalism,  or  sunk  in  the  dead 
sea  of  Materialism,  and  were  soon  found  withered 
up  like  the  barren  fig-tree,  bearing  nothing  but 
leaves,  because  the  season  of  such  figs  had  not 
yet  come. 

And  when  the  Master  of  the  Vineyard  came  that 


THE    MINISTRY    OF    GRACE.  259 

way,  he  said  to  those  young  men  :  **  Why  stand  ye 
here  all  the  day  idle  1" 

And  they  answered  :  ''  Master,  because  no  man 
hath  hired  us." 

Then  the  Master  said :  "  Gfo  ye  also  into  my  vine- 
yard, and  work."  And  they  went,  although  it  was 
the  eleventh  hour. 

It  was  then  a  very  simple  thing  to  enter  that  Uni- 
tarian ministry.  Between  those  churches  there  was 
no  connection  whatever,  save  that  of  a  kindly  sym- 
pathy and  courtesy.  Each  church  was  as  strictly 
independent,  as  though  it  were  the  only  one  on  earth. 

It  might  invite  the  company  or  co-operation  of  a 
few  sister  churches,  when  it  ordained  or  installed  a 
pastor,  and  having  no  coherence  and  no  creed,  they 
were  open  to  the  invasion  of  any  enthusiastic  boys, 
the  separate  peoples  might  choose  to  call  to  their 
pulpits.  And  these  came  forward  with  a  boldness,, 
in  whose  presence  modest  age  and  wisdom  often 
stood  abashed.  Keverence  for  the  past  seemed 
about  wholly  to  vanish  away  before  this  vast  confi- 
dence in  the  revelations  of  to-morrow ;  and  there 
was  something  even  pathetic  in  the  glow  of  youth- 
ful ardor,  with  which  the  Liberal  pulpit  of  New 
England  rushed  blindfold  into  that  extravagance 
attained  conspicuously  by  the  churches,  which 
sought  a  new  revelation  of  God,  made  through  the 
intellect  of  man,  while  ignoring  all  the  past  revela- 
tions God  was  making  in  Christian  history,  in  the 
evolution  of  Jesus  as  the  Christ. 


260  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

They  thereby  ceased  altogether  to  make  any 
united  advance  or  any  common  assault  on  any  evil 
or  untruth.  They  began  confusedly  to  look  around 
and  question  one  another,  to  inquire  which  had  the 
ablest  preacher,  and  to  criticize  each  other's  logic 
and  work.  An  era  of  uncertainty  brought  its  aim- 
less irresolution  to  the  clergy,  while  ecclesiastical 
stagnation  and  decay  crept  over  the  churches, 
which  were  once  such  confident  champions  of  the 
cause  of  Christ. 

In  Boston,  strong  and  wise  men,  like  James 
Freemen  Clarke  and  Edward  Everett  Hale,  strongly 
sympathized  with  their  illustrious  New  York 
brother,  Dr.  Bellows,  while  men  of  spiritual  vision 
and  deep  scholarship,  like  Cyrus  A.  Bartol  and 
Frederic  Hedge,  still  lived  in  the  spirit,  and  wielded 
the  intellect  as  its  tool,  seeing  the  leadership  God 
had  plainly  given  to  Jesus  as  the  Christ,  the  sacred 
Mediator. 

The  great  body  of  the  younger  men,  however, 
stammered  confusedly,  or  declined  to  say  anything 
whatever  in  the  name  of  Christ,  thinking  that  their 
honesty  and  sincerity  forbade  it.  This  was  the 
frame  of  circumstances  in  which  the  great  revival 
of  Christianity,  as  well  as  of  religion,  now  origi- 
nated in  New  England. 

The  new  President  of  Antioch  College,  Dr. 
Thomas  Hill,  had  also  fully  realized  that  Christi- 
anity without  Christ  was  only  an  accursed  thing, 
a  barren  fig-tree,    growing   in  a  graveyard,  and 


THE    MINISTRY    OP    GRACE.  261 

must  soon  be  withering  up  to  die,  unless  '*The 
Way,  tlie  Truth,  and  the  Life"  of  Jesus  could  be 
restored  to  its  vital  forces. 

In  consequence  of  that  belief  mainly,  he  had  been 
advanced  from  his  humble  position  in  the  West,  to 
the  most  distinguished  position  of  influence  and 
honor  in  New  England,  and  was  then  President  of 
Harvard  College. 

The  path  was  thereby  again  easily  opened  to  that 
Ministry  of  Grace,  of  which  the  young  Professor  of 
Logic  had  so  long  dreamed.  It  was  an  impressive 
scene,  in  one  of  the  three  parishes  of  that  old  college 
town  of  Cambridge,  when  that  new  President  of 
Harvard,  with  Catherine's  old  pastor  from  Boston, 
together  laid  their  kindly  hands  on  the  young  man's 
head,  asking  Heaven  to  consecrate  his  powers  to 
the  blessed  work  of  that  Ministry  of  Grace,  and 
there  their  united  lives  again  began,  after  passing 
over  all  the  border  lands,  except  that  final  bourne, 
from  which  no  traveler  returns. 

Their  home  for  years  to  come  was  in  the  pictur- 
esque old  Allston  Mansion,  in  the  suburbs  of  Cam- 
bridge, and  near  the  great  highway  to  Boston,  over 
the  Charles  River  Bridge. 

There  at  first  he  fell  naturally  into  the  ordinary 
place,  as  one  of  the  kindly  pastors,  smiling  placidly 
on  his  quiet  people,  gently  ministering  to  their 
decent  grief  when  death  invaded  the  flock,  and 
reading,  with  due  gravity  and  propriety  his  one 
optimistic  sermon  on  Sunday  morning. 


262  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

There  Protestantism's  old  conviction  as  to  the 
infallibility  of  the  Book  was  wholly  dead,  but  time 
had  not  yet  matured  the  theory  destined  to  succeed 
it.  Ages  of  Christian  faith  and  culture  had  pro- 
duced there  intelligent  men  and  women,  whose  faces 
and  whose  hearts  were  as  sweet  and  pure,  as  New 
England's  Mayflower;  and  their  lives  were  so  inno- 
cent and  correct,  that  they  seemed  to  need  no  Gos- 
pel but  that  of  **  sweetness  and  light,"  which  they 
had  heard  of,  as  the  Transcendentalists'  dream. 

The  Transcendentalists  were  a  people  of  the  sweet- 
est sympathy,  and  finest  spiritual  insight,  not  to  say 
of  the  most  unassuming  and  gentle  humility,  too  ; 
but  their  new  worship  of  unconditional  freedom, 
which  assumed  no  duty  but  that  of  high  living  and 
pure  thinking,  now  gave  the  rein  to  intellectual 
speculation,  and  ended  the  habit  of  prayerful  self- 
sacrifice,  which  had  built  those  good  New  England 
churches,  and  filled  the  homes  of  their  founders 
with  a  pure  and  humble  faith. 

Intoxicated  with  the  new  wine  of  Christian  free- 
dom, they  had  almost  overthrown  the  Cross. 

Instead  of  rising  into  that  clear-eyed  loyalty  to 
Christ,  which  builds  churches  and  blesses  homes, 
their  enthusiasm  was  allowed  to  lapse  into  a  dream- 
ing devotion  to  what  they  called  **  Truth,"  till  their 
lives  became  a  mere  ecstatic  meditation  on  truth  ; 
and  while  their  Seers  and  Saints  were  all  dying 
childless,  the  Catholics  and  Methodists  were  build- 
ing warm  nests  in  Boston,  and  the  Episcopal  Church 


THE    MINISTEY    OF    GEACE.  263 

drew  in  the  devout  element  of  worshipping  Liberal- 
ism to  greet  the  great  Bishop  of  Massachusetts, 
Phillips  Brooks,  who  built  grandly  on  the  ruins  of 
Transcendentalism. 

In  his  Bohlen  Lectures,  he  announced  his  faith 
as  follows : 

**The  inspiring  idea  is  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
and  the  childhood  of  every  man  to  Him.  Jesus  is 
always  bringing  into  more  and  more  perfect  revela- 
tion the  certain  truth  that  man,  and  every  man,  is 
the  child  of  God." 

•*  This  is  the  sum  of  the  work  of  the  Incarnation, 
to  reassert  the  fatherhood  and  childhood  as  an  un- 
lost  truth,  and  to  re-establish  its  power  as  the  cen- 
tral fact  of  life,  that  was  the  purpose  of  the  coming 
of  Jesus."     *    *    ^ 

*'Two  centuries  ago,  I  think  that  Christ  was  far 
less  real  to  men  than  he  is  now ;  but  its  religion 
had  grown  strangely  impersonal.  It  believed  doc- 
trines far  more  than  it  believed  in  the  Son  of 
Man."     *    *    * 

**The  loftiness  of  the  life  of  Jesus  altogether 
escaped  the  perplexity  of  many  of  the  questions 
with  which  our  lives  are  troubled,  as  the  eagle  fly- 
ing through  the  sky  is  not  worried  how  to  cross  the 
rivers."     *    *    * 

*'The  Lord's  Supper,  realized  in  the  simplest 
way,  as  the  Father's  table,  is  its  transparent  sacra- 
ment. I  would  let  a  man  forget,  or  never  know, 
all  about  councils  and  bishops,  aU  about  corrup- 


264  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

tions  and  reformations,  all  about  creeds  and  confes- 
sions, if  he  kept  that  picture,  he  would  know  the 
open  secret  of  the  Christian  Church." 

Theodore  Parker  had  gone  before  him  through 
Boston  like  a  cyclone,  a  sort  of  fighting  Joab,  or 
vehement  Paul,  who  forced  even  rude  men  to  see 
with  a  spiritual  vision;  but  he  had  left  many- 
wounds  and  ruins  in  his  path. 

He  had  stepped  in  to  finish  Calvinism,  with  what 
Bunyan  would  have  called  a  ''grievous  crab-tree 
cudgel,"  and  he  laid  about  him  on  every  side,  as 
though  at  a  Donnybrook  fair,  where  the  chief  duty 
was  to  see  a  head  and  hit  it. 

But,  on  the  whole,  that  Gospel  of  the  Cudgel, 
where  it  was  needed,  has  had  a  vast  and  beneficent 
influence. 

Calvin  died  hard,  but  he  is  really  dead,  at  least 
in  Boston,  and  beyond  the  hope  of  resurrection ; 
even  his  ghost  does  not  walk  in  America  to-day, 
outside  of  the  Catholic  or  the  Presbyterian 
churches  ;  and  they  will  soon  also  exclaim  :  ''  Naza- 
rene,  Thou  hast  conquered  !  " 

Jesus  and  Calvin  cannot  exist  together,  at  least 
not  in  one  family ;  and  for  that  inestimable  bless- 
ing we  are  most  indebted  to  that  bit  of  incarnate 
fidelity,  Theodore  Parker. 

He  was  like  a  devout  and  praying  bulldog,  set  to 
rend  and  harry  the  Church  of  Gfod,  till  it  flung 
away  the  filthy  creed  rags,  in  which  its  divine 
beauty  had  been  so  long  concealed,  bat  out  of  them 


THE    MINISTRY    OF    GRACE.  265 

it  came  at  last,  *'a  thing  of  beauty  and  a  joy  for- 
ever." 

Into  that  setting  now  came  the  Ministry  of  Grace, 
largely  reinforced  from  the  best  souls  of  all  denomi- 
nations, yet  falling  far  short  of  its  ideals. 

Even  England  sent  many  of  its  greatest  souls  to 
aid  in  that  resurrection  of  Christ. 

Brooke  Hereford  gave  the  best  years  of  his  life 
to  it,  and  Stopf ord  Brooke,  in  two  generations,  and 
Professor  Carpenter  of  Oxford  came  to  greet  their 
many  worthy  peers  and  brothers,  like  Sunderland 
of  Ann  Arbor,  and  the  soulful  Robert  CoUyer  of 
New  York. 

**  Let  us  study  the  omens,"  said  Catherine,  as 
they  walked  together  by  the  beautiful  Charles 
River,  through  the  Longfellow  field. 

**  Tell  me,  dear,"  she  said,  ''  which  of  us  do  you 
think  will  first  be  called  to  pass  away,  and  which 
must  be  left  here  alone  ?  " 

Without  speaking  he  drew  two  parallel  lines  on 
the  smooth  sand  with  his  cane,  and  in  a  moment 
in  rolled  the  tide,  and  obliterated  them  both  at 
once.    '*  You  see,"  he  said. 

"  But  tell  me,  dear,"  she  pleaded,  *'  what  do  you 
think  about  it?" 

**  Well,"  he  said,  "  try  these  two  scallop  shells 
—just  alike— let  us  launch  them,  and  see  which 
shall  sink  first !" 

He  gently  set  them  afloat,  side  by  side.  The  re- 
tiring tide  carried  them  out  to  the  current,  and  a 


266  BORDEK    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

light  breeze  from  the  shore  caused  them  to  sail 
away,  gently  tilting  over  the  light  ripples,  and,  as 
they  thus  receded,  Catherine  pressed  closer  and 
closer  to  his  side,  catching  her  breath  now  and  then 
in  a  nervous  anxiety,  as  one  or  the  other  seemed  to 
have  disappeared  ;  but  keeping  her  eyes  fixed  on 
the  graceful  scallops,  which  became  more  and  more 
difficult  to  see,  until  they  both  found  themselves 
breathless  v^ith  interest,  as  it  became  plain  that 
the  omen  was  to  give  no  response,  since  the  shells 
drifted  away  and  away  out  of  sight,  into  the  twi- 
light, side  by  side. 

As  they  returned  from  that  walk,  they  passed 
through  the  College  grounds,  and  there  met  with 
one  of  the  venerable  overseers  of  the  college, 
who  walked  with  them  to  the  college  pump,  in  the 
early  evening  of  Commencement  Day. 

He  paused  and  gazed  intently  at  a  broad  black 
stain,  on  the  white  sand  of  the  college  ground  ; 
classic  soil,  he  had  always  considered  it. 

The  stain,  less  than  a  yard  wide,  was  trailed 
down,  and  away  from  the  college  pump,  and  a  sus- 
picious odor  filled  the  air,  while  near  by,  in  the 
doorway  of  one  of  the  buildings,  lay  one  of  the 
janitor's  men,  evidently  very  drunk. 

*'  Ah,"  said  the  overseer,  shaking  his  whitehead, 
'*  a  sad  sight !  a  sad  sight !  I  know  these  things 
occasionally  happen  on  Commencement  Day,  when 
the  janitors  empty  the  punch  bowls  from  the  class 
spreads,  and  the  great  Commencement  dinner." 


THE    MINISTRY    OF    aRAOE.  267 

*'  Why  don't  you  prevent  them  ?  "  said  the  new 
pastor. 

''Would  you  destroy  a  venerable  social  cus- 
tom 1 "  was  the  reply. 

** I  would  destroy  the  custom,  and  the  college 
too,  sooner  than  see  it  stand  like  a  wanton,  holding 
the  wine-cup  to  the  lips  of  youth  !" 

**  Ah,  you  western  men  are  so  headstrong,  so  in- 
considerate !    Mad-caps,  all  of  you  !" 

**  Yes,  Doctor,  mad-caps  for  Christ !  You  can- 
not keep  Christ  in  the  pulpit,  while  you  banish 
him  from  the  schools." 

**  Banish  him  from  the  schools  1  Why,  what  do 
you  mean  ?  " 

''  Doctor,  I  was  taught  in  a  western  college  that 
it  is  about  as  prudent  to  load  down  a  maniac  with 
dynamite,  as  to  put  the  weapons  of  learning  and  of 
trained  skill  into  the  hands  of  a  young  man 
schooled  in  vice !" 

*'  Schooled  in  vice  !  Tut,  tut  !  We  have  no 
schools  of  vice  !   But  what  would  you  do  about  it  ? 

'^  I  think  we  should  say,  at  least,  no  importing 
of  European  vices  for  our  schools  ;  no  turning  of 
our  boys  into  beer-tubs  and  tobacco  fiends,  because 
German  and  French  students  are  so  sketched  ;  no 
giving  of  power  or  place  or  diplomas  to  any  young 
man  who  does  not  give  ample  evidence  of  some 
sanctifying  or  saving  grace  or  power  in  his  own 
soul,  that  would  keep  him  above  such  vices,  and 


268  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

insure  his  using  learning  or  position  as  a  sacred 
trust." 

**  But  what  a  Utopian  scheme  is  that !  What 
evidence  could  you  get  ? " 

^*  I  would  demand  that  every  student  in  college 
should  publicly  kneel  daily,  as  a  recognition  of 
Christ." 

**  You  wouldn't  attempt  to  pump  religion  into 
these  young  men  ?  " 

'*  I  would  not  attempt  to  pump  learning  into 
them,  every  day,  and  then  stand  idle  while  Satan 
pumped  religion  out  of  them,  every  night." 

^'  Well,  you  would  compel  attendance  at  pray- 
ers?   What  else?" 

'*  I  would  endeavor  to  train  boys  so,  that  they 
should  deem  that  attendance  a  privilege,  by  allow- 
ing the  young  gentlemen  mainly  to  conduct  the 
service  themselves." 

"  But  we  receive  all  denominations  here,  you 
know  ?  This  is  not  a  sectarian  school — a  mere  hatch- 
ery for  heretics.  What  would  you  do  with  the  Jew 
or  the  Catholic?" 

**  Of  course,  only  by  making  it  honorable,  and 
by  changing  the  habits  of  the  school.  At  the  end 
of  each  sophomore  year,  I  would  have  twenty  men 
chosen  to  conduct  prayers,  for  the  year  to  come.  I 
would  give,  a  year  later,  as  the  highest  honor  the 
college  confers,  a  crimson  ribbon,  bearing  a  cross  of 
gold,  and  the  college  seal  and  motto,  to  the  ten 


THE    MINISTRY    OF    GRACE.  269 

young  men  who  had  shown  themselves  most  worthy, 
fitly  to  conduct  that  service. 

"  That  is,  I  would  so  train  all  college  graduates, 
that  they  could  conduct  a  public  religious  service, 
at  least  as  well  as  an  English  ship  captain,  for 
whom  it  is  made  a  part  of  his  trade  or  business. 

**  And  if  there  were  here  any  Augean  stable  of 
customs,  tilled  with  the  inherited  vice  and  tilth  from 
the  evil  habits  of  dead  generations,  I  would  clean 
it  out,  or  grant  no  diploma  to  its  occupants. 

"  Both  whiskey  and  tobacco  should  be  con- 
sidered sinful^  and  no  youth  should  be  graduated, 
or  secure  any  diploma,  who  habitually  used  either. 

**  Drunkards  and  smokers  diVQ  usually  made  such 
in  their  teens  and  both  should  be  outlaws  in  the 
college  life  of  pure  boys  ! 

**  There  is  no  greater  degradation  of  American 
manhood  to-day,  than  arises  from  the  early  use  or 
any  use  of  those  remaining  **twin  relics  of  barbar- 
ism," whiskey  and  tobacco. 

He  could  hardly  believe  that  it  was  barely  twenty 
years  then,  since  John  Pierpont's  manly  plea  had 
banished  the  punch-bowl  from  the  feast  of  minis- 
ters who  installed  any  New  England  pastor,  and 
that  not  fifty  years  had  passed  since  the  State  had 
allowed  Harvard  College  openly  to  draw  lotteries 
in  Boston. 

New  England's  respectable  sin  of  the  punch-bowl 
was  something  he  had  never  seen,  and  he  disliked 
the  easy  compliance  with  which  some  of  his  new 


270  BOEDEE    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

ministerial  friends  walked  hand  in  hand  with  it. 

But  the  united  influence  for  temperance  finally- 
carried  no  license  as  the  rule  for  Cambridge.  Then 
the  pastor  came  down  Cambridge  Street  from  Har- 
vard Square  to  Boston,  and  said,  "  This  looks  good. 
All  these  saloons  open  this  October  evening,  and 
not  a  drunken  man  to  be  seen.  Prohibition  seems 
to  prohibit.  The  sight  of  these  streets  to-night 
ought  to  do  one's  heart  good." 

So  saying,  and  feeling  especially  hopeful,  he  came 
over  the  Craigie  Bridge  into  Boston,  but  how  sud- 
denly the  mood  was  changed  when  he  left  the 
bridge.  Conspicuous  at  the  first  corner  on  the  left 
stood  forth  the  sign  "  Hell-gate  Lager." 

**  A  good  name  for  it,"  he  said,  ''but  is  the  en- 
trance into  Boston  to  be  one  of  the  gates  to  Hell  I " 

He  began  to  think  so  as  the  car  rolled  on  ;  saloons 
to  the  right  and  to  the  left,  each  filled  with  a  half- 
tipsy  crowd  ;  and  in  all  of  them  the  horrible  work 
of  drunkard-making  going  on.  That  car,  on  its 
short  circuit  of  about  a  mile  before  it  gets  back  to 
the  bridge,  passes  fifty  or  sixty  open  drinking 
places.  The  number  of  drinking  men  there  visible 
was  about  five  hundred,  and,  as  that  motley  crowd 
changes  continually  from  five  o'clock  till  eleven, 
from  five  thousand  to  twenty  thousand  men  there 
taste  the  poison  every  night. 

His  mind  was  growing  dark  with  the  shadow  of 
that  dismal  group  of  facts,  before  he  reached  Scollay 
Square,  as  he  knew  that  route  is  no  worse  than  a 


THE    MINISTRY    OF    GRACE.  271 

score  of  others  in  Boston.  The  Chelsea  cars  or  the 
Harvard  Square  cars  go  over  just  such  a  course. 
Over  all  of  them  Boston  is  pouring  streams  of  sin 
into  her  sister  cities,  and  the  question  becomes  one 
of  vital  moment  whether  Boston  is  to  go  on  forever 
acting  the  part  of  a  v^hite-haired  bar-tender,  and 
holding  the  cup  of  death  to  the  lips  of  the  young 
men  of  Cambridge  and  of  Harvard  College. 

Anybody  who  will,  may  see  any  night  in  the 
week,  a  river  of  tipsiness  sluggishly  flowing  over 
that  Craigie  Bridge  from  Boston  into  Cambridge, 
as  her  workingmen  stagger  back  after  having  got  in 
Boston  what  they  cannot  get  at  home.  What  has 
Boston  to  say  to  that  ?  The  fact  is  one  that  any 
man  may  see.  Boston  is  debauching  her  sister 
City,  and  is  making  money  thereby.  And  how 
little  the  clergy  can  do  in  these  terribly  practical 
matters. 

To  many  of  the  homeless,  the  saloon  is  the  thing 
now  most  nearly  resembling  home.  The  outcast  and 
the  lonely  seek  and  often  find  something  of  com- 
panionship and  good  will,  even  before  the  open  bar. 
The  deadly  cup  must  go,  but  the  companionship  it 
often  stands  for  must  not  go. 

The  songs  and  kindly  greetings  of  these  beer- 
gardens  must  not  be  banished.  The  places  of  refuge, 
these  resorts  of  the  homeless,  these  hiding-places  of 
onr  misery — all  these  must  remain. 

Fill  none  of  them  so  visibly  full  of  cold  holiness 
that  a  shabby  sinner  could  not  endure  to  go  in.  Let 


272  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

a  little  grace  give  to  that  holiness  a  glow  that  will 
make  it  winsome,  and  forget  not  that  these  minis- 
tering hands  of  the  Saviour  are  rough  as  well  as 
gentle  ;  those  hands  have  been  crucified  ;  they  are 
torn  and  pierced  and  marked  with  blood. 

And  this  conflict  demands  the  blood  of  some  loyal 
martyrs  now.  It  is  no  child's  play  to  tackle  this 
rum  demon  in  Boston. 

Though  not  a  hint  could  be  given  that  *'  no 
license"  was  not  working  well  in  Cambridge,  the 
license  vote  went  up  from  2,344  in  1886  to  3,727  in 
1887  ;  but  thanks  to  Chaplain  Peabody  and  to  Prof. 
Norton,  to  Rev.  Mr.  Hall  and  to  the  other  loyal  souls 
that  worked  with  them,  the  **  no-license  "  vote  also 
went  up  from  2,910  to  4,293  ;  and  the  fight  was  won. 

And  the  glory  of  that  victory  shines  brightest  in 
this— that  it  carries  with  it  the  decision  of  fair 
Harvard,  and  of  the  culture  and  scholarship  of 
Cambridge,  that  they  will  not  in  any  way  back  up 
or  indorse  the  rumseller,  nor  play  the  part  of  a 
white-haired  bartender. 

And  yet  the  unattained  ideal  of  that  ministry  of 
grace  is  far  away.  Experience  baffles  hope,  and 
aspiration  often  ends  only  in  meditation,  like  this : 

THE  THREE  STATUES  IN  HARVARD  SQUARE. 

Puritan,  whose  iron  stride 
Seems  to  thrust  the  past  aside, 
Seekest  thou,  with  visage  stern 
Other  heretics  to  burn  ? 


THE    MINISTRY    OF    GRACE.  ,  273 

Freed  from  persecution's  grip. 
Wilt  thou  fiercer  hounds  let  slip  ? 
Or  hath  sorrow  nursed  in  thee 
Sweeter  Faith  than  cloisters  see  ? 

Soldier,  mounting  guard  in  stone, 
What  hast  thou  to  gaze  upon  ? 
Wars  are  over,  discords  dead. 
Reverently  bare  thy  head, — 
Grander  conflict  round  thee  roars. 
Life  its  mightier  tide  outpours. 
Where  young  men  in  thousands  meet 
Hearing  now  the  world's  heart  beat ; 
Bare  thy  bowed  head  to  the  storm. 
Watch  !  The  conflict  still  is  warm  ! 

Scholar,  throned  upon  thy  chair, 
Thou  alone  art  free  from  care  ; 
Not  the  Puritan's  grim  zeal, 
Not  the  Soldier's  ready  steel ; 
Anxious  apprehension  none, 
Shuts  thy  sweet  face  from  the  sun, 
Love  alone  equipped  thy  hand 
Faith  predicted,  wisdom  planned  ; — 
Dreaming  Scholar,  ages  fleet. 
Lay  fulfilment  at  thy  feet. 
So,  the  Century's  golden  stream, 
Brings  fruition  to  thy  dream. 
And  thy  sweet  Faith  yet  shall  see 
Here  thy  grandest  liberty. 


274  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  SHADOW  FALLS. 

For  ten  years  more  this  happy  life  rolled  on  in 
the  ministry,  at  least  of  sweetness  and  light,  and 
four  lovely  children  had  blessed  that  happy  home. 

The  duties  of  the  parish  work  were  light,  and  its 
only  contact  with  any  very  serious  sin  was  with  a 
few  poor  and  ignorant  working  people,  who  never 
entered  its  church,  but  from  the  sadness  and  lone- 
liness of  their  lives,  were  addicted  to  occasional 
drunkenness  in  the  streets  at  night,  and  to  carousals, 
fishing  excursions  and  picnics  on  Sunday. 

The  sweetness  and  light  somehow  did  not  seem 
to  reach  those  poor  people,  whose  homes  were  less 
pleasant,  and  sometimes  empty  of  food  or  fire,  and 
when  the  tract  distributor  came  around,  they 
would  occasionally  swear  at  him,  and  say  in  effect, 
if  the  children  ask  for  bread,  would  you  give  them 
only  something  to  read  ? 

In  the  little  practical  work  he  could  do  with 
those  classes,  the  new  pastor  found  his  ablest  co- 
laborers  for  Christ  were  a  faithful  Catholic  Priest, 
in  the  suburbs,  and  a  Jewish  Rabbi,  who  seemed 
to  personally  know  all  those  poor  people,  and 
really  to  take  some  interest  in  them,  towards  im- 
proving their  condition,  just  as  if  that  were  one  of 


THE    SHADOW    FALLS.  .  275 

the  duties  of  a  Christian,  to  go  about  doing  good. 

The  Eabbi  often  so  far  excelled  in  these  good 
works,  that  the  new  pastor  once  remarked  to  his 
Catholic  brother,  ''We  must  be  active,  my  brother, 
or  these  Jews  will  become  the  best  Christians." 

"  They  always  have  been,"  retorted  the  Rabbi 
when  he  heard  that  remark,  "they  at  least  take 
care  of  their  own  poor  and  suffering,  to  the  extent 
of  their  ability,  and  without  waiting  to  say  prayers 
about  it  first,  give  and  receive  thanks  afterwards 
for  their  ability  to  do  it." 

In  these  good  works  Catherine  could  be  of  but 
little  assistance,  absorbed  as  she  now  was  in  her 
home  and  children ;  and  the  usual  parish  visiting 
round,  and  the  Sunday  School  and  sewing  circle 
did  not  seem  to  interest  her  much,  as  her  active 
mind  could  not  be  over  much  interested  with  such 
things  ;  and  she  had  taken  to  reading  Herbert 
Spencer  and  the  philosophers. 

She  finally  welcomed  the  change  when  her  hus- 
band was  advanced  to  a  new  church  in  Dorchester, 
which  he  insisted  on  naming  Christ  Church. 

That  was  near  her  old  home,  amid  many  friends, 
and  enabled  them  to  take  a  fine  new  house  in  Bos- 
ton, in  Marlborough  street,  where  her  circle  was 
greatly  enlarged  and  her  interests  and  duties  in 
many  ways  increased,  and  the  Browning  Clubs,  and 
the  Emerson  Clubs,  and  the  Ethical  Lectures  had 
more  fully  occupied  her  mind. 

From  there,  on  Christmas  Day  of  1879,  the  pas- 


276  BOEDEK    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

tor  had  taken  an  afternoon  walk,  and  came  in  from 
Dorchester,  across  the  public  gardens  as  the  sun 
was  setting,  and  quietly  entered  the  now  familiar 
Marlborough  street  door. 

The  house  was  singularly  still.  The  children, 
after  their  merry  morning,  at  home,  had  gone  to 
Dorchester  to  greet  and  dine  with  Grandma  Eliot, 
and  their  uncle's  great  sleigh  would  soon  bring 
back  the  merry  troop  for  the  Christmas  evening  at 
home. 

He  entered  the  long  reception  room  at  the  left  of 
the  door,  where  a  great  coal  fire  glowed  and  lighted 
up  the  elegant  room,  and  there  sat  Catherine  alone, 
in  a  large  arm-chair,  before  the  grate. 

She  lifted  her  large  eyes,  as  if  startled  from  a 
re  very,  and  unconsciously  sighed,  as  she  often  did 
of  late,  especially  if  left  thus  brooding  alone. 

Her  husband  was  troubled  by  the  look  and  by 
the  sigh,  as  evidently  something  lay  back  of  it. 
She  gazed  silently  again  at  the  fire  and  almost 
without  noticing  him. 

He  laid  his  hand  upon  her  forehead,  and  stroked 
the  brown  hair  with  a  caressing  touch,  of  which 
she  was  fond,  and  tears  welled  into  her  eyes  as  he 
did  so. 

She  took  his  hand  in  both  hers,  kissed  it  affec- 
tionately, pressed  it  to  her  heart,  and  said: 
**  There's  something  I  have  long  wanted  to  tell  you, 
and  yet  I  fear  to  say  it." 

They  were  less  often  quite  alone  together,  as  they 


THE    SHADOW    FALLS.  277 

were  now,  with  the  children  all  away,  and  no  one 
to  interrupt. 

So  he  sat  down  upon  the  arm  of  the  chair,  and 
pressed  her  head  to  his  side,  with  his  left  arm 
around  her,  while  his  right  hand  again  stroked  her 
hair,  and  he  said :  *'  Well,  dearest,  there  can  be 
no  better  time  than  now.  You  can  tell  me  nothing 
painful,  as  we  have  been  very  happy  together  for 
twenty  years;  and  God's  mercy  is  not  likely  to 
fail  us  now." 

She  replied :  **  Are  yoa  quite  sure  there  is  a 
personal  God,  a  Being  who  knows  us  personally, 
and  whom  we  can  know,  or  go  to  as  a  Father  ?" 

He  started  up  in  surprise,  and  said  :  "  Why, 
you've  been  dreaming,  Catherine.  Don't  be  so 
moody."     And  to  change  the  subject,  he  said  : 

*'Fm  sorry,  dear,  you  haven't  had  more  love  to 
brighten  your  life,  but  you  know,  dearest,  God  is 
love,  and  you've  had  all  there  was.  Nobody  else 
ever  had  any  such  as  you  and  I  have  given  to 
each  other." 

*'But  you  do  not  answer  my  question,"  she  said, 
**and  I  want  you  to  very  much." 

He  felt  that  mere  words  could  not  evade  that 
searching  soul,  and  he  knew  that  mere  words  often 
made  a  mockery  of  love  ;  in  trying  to  answer  its 
needs,  but  that  true  affection  speaking  in  kind 
looks  and  gentle  tones  and  acts  could  not  be  con- 
cealed, where  there  was  any  affectionate  sympathy 
to  discern  it. 


278  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

She  did  not  doubt  his  love,  but  she  was  losing 
her  faith  in  a  personal  God,  and  a  conscious  in- 
dividual future  life. 

'*  Yes,  dear,*'  she  answered,  "I've  had  all  there 
was  and  it  has  been  blessed,  but  somehow  I  wish  I 
was  more  satisfied  about  these  things,  so  that  I 
could  be  more  to  you.  I  wish  I  was  more  to  you. 
Do  you  never  feel  you  would  be  better  off  without 
meT' 

**  Impossible  I  You  are  everything  to  me,''  he 
said. 

But  the  shadow  had  come  again,— that  strange 
shadow  of  self-reproach  and  distrust,  so  intangible, 
but  so  ominous  and  fearful.  She  sighed  again 
heavily,  and  sat  for  some  time  in  silence,  while  he 
stroked  the  head  he  loved  best  of  all  things  on 
earth.  Then  he  sat  on  a  footstool  at  her  feet,  and 
laid  his  head  in  her  lap  and  gazed  up  into  her 
face,  as  he  said  earnestly  : 

"Have  we  not,  dear,  all  that  heart  can  wish, 
those  dear  children,  my  renewed  health  and  hopes, 
our  happy  life,  and  bright  prospects,  and  our  un- 
diminished joy  in  each  other  ? " 

**0h,  yes,"  she  said,  "but  do  you  never  feel 
that  something  will  some  time  separate  us  ?  Were 
you  gone,  what  have  I  left?  Do  you  feel  really 
sure  of  immortality,  so  that  even  death  could  not 
wholly  separate  us  ? " 

•*  Why,  certainly,  dear.;  what  a  strange  mood 
you  are  in.    We  must  not  doubt  Grod's  providence, 


THE    SHADOW    FALLS.  .    279 

which  insures  the  future  life.     What  else  has  he 
made  us  for  1" 

**  Ah,  dear,  I  have  so  often  heard  you  say  that ; 
but  what  has  he  made  all  other  animal  life  for? 
What  has  he  made  roses  and  lilies  for  !  And  ants 
and  bees  and  horses  and  dogs,  and  elephants,  which 
often  seem  to  have  as  much  intelligence  as  men  ? 

**  But  can  they  reason  Y^  Yes,  they  can  to  some 
extent. 

'' Can  they  pray?''  Better  than  most  men,  and 
their  fidelity  and  sincerity  are  beyond  comparison. 

**  You  see,  dear,  that  law  of  compensation  in  the 
future  should  include  the  orchids  and  the  lilies, 
which  shed  their  exquisite  beauty  only  for  the 
pleasure  of  the  hour,  or  to  produce  other  more 
beautiful  and  perfect  orchids  and  lilies,  and  if  Sol- 
omon in  all  his  glory  was  not  equal  to  one  of  these, 
pray  why  should  he  live  forever  as  an  individual, 
while  they  perish  ? 

**I  think  the  same  law  applies  to  both,  and  that 
we  have  our  own  immortality  in  other  individuals, 
like  all  the  rest  of  nature,  in  the  children. 

'*  Life  is  eternal,  but  its  blossoms,  even  the  high- 
est and  fairest  of  human  souls,  drop  oflP,  and  fall 
back  into  the  great  source  of  life,  which  we  call 
God,  only  from  knowing  no  better  name  for  it.'* 

"  Oh,  my  darling  I  You  amaze  me  I  You  wound 
me  to  the  heart !  What  do  you  really  mean  ?"  he 
said. 

"  I  do  not  know  what  I  mean,  dear,  but  I  fear,  I 


280  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

fear,  for  you  and  for  me.    I  fear  that  death  ends  all !" 

Her  husband  started  up  in  amazement,  staggered 
and  fell  insensible  at  her  feet. 

Three  days  after  the  doctors  consulted  and  said 
he  had  a  fit,  but  he  knew  he  had  only  received  a 
shock  of  the  soul.  Men  often  die  of  shock  from 
wounds,  but  what  are  physical  wounds  to  such  a 
shock  of  the  faithful  soul  1 

All  the  hope  and  courage  and  joy  of  his  life  ;  all 
the  strength  to  bear  up  under  terrible  trials ;  all 
the  gentleness  and  tenderness  with  which  he  had 
always  dealt  with  Catherine  ;  all  in  him  that  was 
manly  ;  all  his  fortitude  ;  all  his  faith  ;  all  that  his 
loved  wife  most  admired  in  him.  seemed  to  him 
now  lost  forever,  as  if  the  bow  had  broken  in  his 
hands,  and  all  the  elasticity  and  hope  had  gone 
out  of  his  life. 

All  this  rushed  over  him  anew,  as  he  revived  at 
midnight,  and  found  her  bending  over  him  with 
true  wifely  solicitude  and  affection,  and  it  recalled 
the  secret  sorrow  he  had  touched  at  the  bridge  of 
sighs  at  Antioch,  when  the  terrible  question  of 
heredity  was  first  suspected. 

It  came  now  like  a  flash  of  revelation,  this  vision 
of  the  fact  that  her  reason  was  in  danger,  if  not 
already  lost  to  her,  that  in  her  hour  of  need, 
appeals  to  God  or  Christ  were  unmeaning  and  as 
nothing  at  all,  while  to  him  they  were  all  in  all, 
and  that  he  had  no  other  source  of  consolation  to 
offer  her. 


THE    SHADOW    FALLS.  281 

It  was  as  if  death  had  already  separated  thetn. 

*'0h,  forgive  me,  dear,"  she  cried,  *'  Forgive  me, 
dear.  You  know  that  I  did  not  mean  anything. 
That  I  do  not  understand  it.  I  do  not.  I  cannot  I 
and  my  nature  is  somehow  different  from  yours.'* 

He  was  constantly  with,  her  now,  as  if  to  realize 
the  worst,  and  seeking  to  interest  her  again  in  the 
great  subject,  he  said,  ^*  My  darling,  let  us  make  it 
certain.  Let  us  exchange  solemn  vows  that  which 
ever  of  us  shall  die  first,  shall  as  soon  as  possible 
thereafter,  communicate  to  the  other  in  some  way; 
the  fact  of  a  future,  conscious  existence,  as  an  indi- 
vidual being,  as  we  are  in  this  life." 

That  seemed  to  divert  her  mind,  and  the  most 
solemn  vows  were  exchanged  that  nothing  should 
prevent  such  communication  if  it  were  possible ; 
and  if  it  did  not  come,  the  impossibility  of  such 
communication  at  least  should  thereby  be  deter- 
mined. 

She  laughed  as  she  said  the  Spiritualists  had  been 
pretending  to  do  that  for  many  years,  but  that 
nothing  reliable  had  ever  come  from  it  yet,  and  she 
didn't  believe  there  ever  would,  as  they  were  such 
a  set  of  frauds  and  humbugs. 

**  But,  my  dear,  you  believed  it  when  in  Italy, 
you  know,  as  we  gazed  at  Alpha  Lyrae  so  many 
nights." 

*'Ah,"  she  said,  **that  was  different.  Love  is 
life,  as  you  say,  and  we  were  both  very  much  alive 
then  I " 


282         BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

It  was  a  sad  week  that  followed.  There  seemed 
to  be  growing  upon  Catherine  the  feeling  that  she 
was  no  help  to  her  husband  ;  that  all  his  calamities 
had  sprung  from  her,  and  that  a  gulf  separated 
them,  which  nothing  could  bridge. 

He  longed  to  do  something  for  her,  who  had  been 
so  much  to  him,  and  who  was  doubly  dear  to  him 
now,  as  the  mother  of  those  four  lovely  children, 
yet  she  could  not  take  in  through  the  intellect 
real  convictions  that  should  have  come  in  child- 
hood. If  the  heart  does  not  first  take  hold  of  Christ, 
the  mind  never  will. 

On  any  topic  relating  to  themselves,  his  wife  had 
never  before  asked  him  a  question  which  he  could 
not  answer  to  her  satisfaction.  He  had  been  per- 
fectly true  to  her,  and  not  a  shadow  of  distrust 
had  ever  come  between  them. 

A  few  days  later  she  came  in  suddenly  to  his 
great  study  at  the  top  of  the  house,  and  threw  her 
arms  about  his  neck  and  said,  **  Do  you  think  we 
shall  pull  through,  dear  ?  '' 

"  Why,  what  do  you  mean,  dear  ? "  he  said. 

She  seemed  to  evade  the  question  and  referred  to 
some  financial  engagements  of  no  real  importance, 
and  presently  said,  **Do  you  know,  dear,  I  fear  I 
am  becoming  insane." 

'*  Impossible,  my  darling,"  he  replied.  *' Your 
clear  intellect  is  in  no  danger  of  insanity.  I  am 
more  likely  to  go  that  way." 

'*  Well,  let  us  exchange  vows  again,  that  what- 


THE    SHADOW    FALLS.  ,283 

ever  happens  neither  of  us  will  ever  send  the  other 
to  any  asylum.  You  know  what  Charles  Lamb  had 
to  endure  with  his  insane  sister." 

*'Yes,  dear,"  he  replied,  ''and  you  know  I 
promise  anything  you  can  ask  before  you  ask  it, 
and  will  keep  the  promise." 

*'  Yes,  but  Susan  Blake  is  still  in  that  asylum, 
and  I  believe  that  she  is  no  more  insane  than  I  am 
now." 

''Nonsense,  dear,  nonsense  !  But  you  shall  cer- 
tainly never  have  any  snch  need." 

He  left  the  house  presently  and  walked  across 
the  public  garden,  considering  if  he  should  consult 
a  physician  without  her  knowing  it,  as  it  seemed 
impossible  to  do  so  otherwise  without  increasing 
her  uneasiness  and  alarm. 

He  went  to  the  treasurer  of  the  church  and  drew 
a  quarter's  salary,  hoping  to  quiet  her  by  giving 
her  a  much  larger  sum  than  she  had  mentioned, 
and  on  entering  he  placed  several  hundred  dollar 
bills  more  than  she  needed  in  her  pocketbook,  after 
assuring  her  there  was  no  need  of  any  anxiety. 

He  then  advised  her  to  have  some  company  over 
the  following  Sunday,  and  she  sent  at  once  for  her 
intimate  friend  Miss  Abbott,  for  that  purpose. 

To  that  friend  he  imparted  his  own  anxieties, 
and  asked  for  her  assistance  in  observing  Catherine 
closely. 

On  Sunday  morning  he  had  to  go  away  early,  as 
usual,  to  his  church  in  Dorchester,  where  he  was 


284  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

again  to  dine  with  the  children  at  grandma's,  and 
for  greater  care,  before  he  went,  he  wrote  to 
Miss  Abbott,  who  had  not  yet  come  down  from  her 
room,  and  slipped  it  under  the  door  of  her  room,  a 
note  which  read,  *'  Miss  Abbott  will  kindly  remem- 
ber, should  there  be  need  of  counsel  to-day,  that 
Dr.  Clark  has  come  in  from  Somerville,  and  lives 
now  at  No.  17,  where  she  can  see  him  if  necessary.'' 

He  went  on  his  way  with  a  sigh,  but  he  did  not 
observe  or  know  that  wifely  anxiety  was  looking 
over  the  banisters  above,  where  Catherine  had  come 
out  to  the  stairs  on  her  way  down,  and  to  her  sorrow 
and  surprise  saw  him  slip  that  note  under  Miss 
Abbott's  door. 

Oh,  spirit  of  distrust,  fell  destroyer,  that  parent 
of  terror,  of  anguish,  what  venom  canst  thou  not  in 
a  moment  drop  into  the  human  heart  ?  Faith  could 
forever  exorcise  thee  and  end  thy  horrible  work. 

But  for  Catherine's  new  spirit  of  distrust,  and  a 
lack  of  faith  in  God  or  man,  which  soon  destroys 
all  faith,  if  not  also  all  faithfulness,  she  would  have 
gone  at  once  to  her  friend's  room  and  inquired 
about  the  note,  and  learned  that  only  her  husband's 
anxious  love  for  her  had  moved  him  to  do  what  he 
had  never  done  before,  and  to  conceal  his  hand 
from  her  for  the  first  time.  But  that  she  never 
knew. 

She  returned  to  her  room  in  anguish  and  despair, 
and  in  such  suspicion,  that  she  could  only  wonder 
if  she  had  already  been  placed  in  charge  of  a  keeper, 


THE    SHADOW    FALLS.  ,285 

while  Miss  Abbott's  kindly  persistence  in  trying  all 
day  to  be  with  her  only  tended  largely  to  increase 
that  suspicion. 

Her  husband  came  in  at  four  o'clock  and  was  met 
by  Catherine  at  the  door  with  a  pleasant  greeting, 
and  seeing  that  she  looked  very  sad,  he  asked  where 
she  was  going  ? 

*'  To  the  German  book-store,"  she  said. 

**Well,  don't  be  gone  long,  dear,"  he  replied, 
and  went  in  to  consult  with  Miss  Abbott,  who 
seemed  better  now  than  any  physician.  Not  find- 
ing her  below  stairs,  he  walked  the  floor  of  the  par- 
lors restlessly,  and  finally  stood  long  at  the  window, 
looking  sadly  toward  the  public  garden,  and  wish- 
ng  that  Catherine  would  speedily  return. 

As  the  twilight  fell,  he  went  up  to  his  study 
where  daylight  lingered  longest,  and  presently  sat 
down  at  his  study  table  and  lighted  the  lamp. 

Something  moved  him  to  open  the  shallow 
drawer  under  the  centre  of  the  table,  for  a  pen, 
and  there,  in  a  place  she  had  never  left  them 
before,  were  his  wife's  watch  and  pocketbook. 
He  opened  the  book  and  found  the  larger  bills  in  it 
as  he  had  placed  them,  and  thought  she  had  left 
them  there  for  greater  safety,  rather  than  carry 
them  in  the  street,  but  the  watch  was  one  she 
always  carried. 

He  started  up  with  an  outcry  of  alarm,  as  the 
fear  flashed  upon  him  at  once  that  she  had  left 
the  house  n^ver  to  return.     Where  could  she  have 


BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

gone?  What  was  her  plan?  He  had  feared  that 
she  might  even  think  of  suicide,  but  his  trustful 
heart  had  never  suspected  such  a  thing  of  her  in 
earnest.  Her  brothers'  houses  were  not  far  away  and 
she  had  probably  stopped  at  one  of  them.  He  felt 
sure  of  it.  He  thought  he  knew  it.  What  else 
could  she  do  ? 

A  tap  at  the  study  door  startled  him,  and  the 
maid  came  in  with  little  baby  Catherine  in  her 
arms,  asking  if  the  mother  was  there,  or  if  she  had 
yet  come  in  ? 

The  sight  of  the  smiling  babe  brought  a  new 
rush  of  suggestions.  **  Oh,  the  children,  the  chil- 
dren !  "  he  cried,  "Think  of  their  losing  such  a 
mother.  What  madness  in  me  to  have  let  her  out 
of  my  sight  to-day  a  moment." 

He  sent  the  nurse  for  Miss  Abbott,  and  rushing 
down  to  the  reception  room,  determined  to  make 
some  alarm.  Pausing  a  moment  to  think  how  to 
proceed,  his  hand  touched  the  bell-pull  by  the 
mantel  to  summon  the  servants  from  below,  and 
as  he  did  so  his  eyes  caught  sight  of  two  letters, 
slipped  in  behind  a  picture  that  stood  on  the  man- 
tel. He  seized  them  at  once,  one  to  himself,  one  to 
Miss  Abbott. 

They  were  calm,  quiet,  loving,  expressing  no  dis- 
satisfaction or  distrust  of  anybody,  but  saying  he 
had  broken  his  promise  and  placed  her  under  a 
guardian,  preparatory  to  an  asylum,  and  avowing 
a  purpose  long  formed  that  in  such  an  event,  she 


THE    SHADOW    FALLS.  287 

would  sacrifice  her  life,  rather  than  be  an  incum- 
brance to  him  or  anyone,  and  finally  ending  with, 
''Do  not  look  for  me,  you  will  never  find  me." 

'*  What  does  that  mean  ?  "  he  cried,  **  Where  can 
she  be  that  I  will  never  find  her.  What  spot  on 
earth  will  I  not  search  for  her." 

'*It  means,"  said  Miss  Abbott,  **the  open  sea. 
She  spoke  twice  to-day  of  the  open  sea.  Where 
could  she  now  reach  the  open  sea  ? " 

"It  means  Point  Judith,"  he  said,  **she  is 
there." 

It  was  now  quite  dark.  The  train  for  Fall  River 
had  been  gone  an  hour.  He  went  to  the  door,  saw  a 
neighbor  whom  he  summoned  to  his  aid,  forced 
him  to  accept  a  confidence  he  was  unwilling  to 
take,  read  to  him  the  letters,  and  asked  him  to  go 
instantly  and  telegraph  to  Fall  River  and  to  New- 
port. 

The  banker's  prudent  mind  hesitated,  and  he  be- 
gan to  express  some  doubts,  when  he  exclaimed, 
**  Great  God  I  Can  men  still  argue  when  there  is 
no  time  left  to  act?" 

He  then  rushed  away  to  the  Old  Colony  station 
and  sent  urgent  telegrams  to  both  places,  and  hap- 
pening to  find  a  clerk  there  who  knew  him,  said, 
"  An  engine,  quick,  quick  1  Every  moment  is 
worth  a  life  ! " 

There  happened  to  be  an  engine  there,  ready 
fired  for  the  next  train,  and  in  two  minutes  he  was 
on  it  with  two  firemen,  flying  over  the  clear  track. 


BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

It  was  now  seven  o'clock,  the  hour  for  the  steamer 
to  leave  Fall  River,  but  it  was  barely  possible  to 
intercept  it  at  Newport  at  9  o'clock,  and  rescue 
Catherine,  if  the  telegram  had  accomplished  any- 
thing. They  had  asked  for  her  detention  there,  or 
for  any  steamer  which  could  await  this  engine,  and 
there  intercept  the  New  York  steamer,  the  Newport. 

He  felt  happy  now  in  thinking  he  should  certainly 
rescue  Catherine,  and  prove  to  her  whether  he  had 
broken  trust  with  her  or  not.  But  how  did  he  know 
she  was  there?  Might  she  not  have  gone  to  the 
Portland  boat,  or  the  Bangor  boat,  or  to  the  Charles 
River  Bridge ! 

He  asked  no  questions.  He  knew  he  was  right. 
He  was  acting  by  Faith,  and  by  that  instinct  of 
love,  which  is  inspiration.  He  could  almost  see  her 
now,  on  the  deck  of  that  boat,  going  down  the 
Providence  River,  and  he  became  strangely  calm 
and  glad,  as  the  panting  engine  flew  through  the 
night,  fired  to  its  highest  speed,  and  thought  of 
that  Providence  River. 

"  Strange  name,"  he  thought.  ''It  certainly  will 
carry  her  safely." 

The  lighted  towns  slipped  by  in  the  dark,  and 
seemed  to  him  bright  flashes  of  domestic  bliss.  His 
confidence  rose,  as  they  rushed  on,  and  it  was 
like  an  intoxicating  joy,  admitting  no  doubt  and 
no  fear. 

The  strain  of  feeling  so  exalted  his  spirit,  that 
he  seemed  to  be  at  perfect  peace,  and  could  feel  na 


THE    SHADOW    FALLS.  .    289 

anxiety  in  thinking  liow  glad  she  would  be  to  see 
him,  and  to  learn  that  she  could  not  even  run  away 
from  the  kind  Providence  of  God. 

He  stood  silent  and  calm  near  the  engineer,  saying 
** Slower,  slower!"  as  the  light  track  seemed  to 
shrink  and  tremble,  under  the  tremendous  bounds 
of  this  iron  steed.  **  Slower  !  slower  I  there  is  ample 
time,"  he  said,  fearing  some  accident  might  lose  all 
at  last. 

As  they  whirled  into  Fall  River,  the  agent  met 
the  engine  with  the  telegram  in  his  hand,  saying 
it  came  half  an  hour  too  late,  and  they  could  do 
nothing. 

"  On  to  Newport,"  he  whispered,  but  with  trem- 
bling lips. 

In  half  an  hour  more  they  were  there,  but  only 
to  see  a  long  trail  of  black  smoke  on  that  bleaky 
night  air,  as  the  vanishing  steamer  swept  out  to  sea 
around  Point  Judith. 

It  was  January,  and  that  Sunday  night  steamer 
had  not  stopped  at  Newport  at  all.  The  telegraph 
office  there  was  not  even  open,  and  the  Boston  mes- 
sage had  only  been  delivered  to  the  idle  ticker 
inside,  with  no  one  in  charge  of  it. 

They  could  have  learned  all  that  at  Fall  River, 
or  even  at  Boston,  by  more  careful  inquiry,  but 
Faith  so  far  outruns  facts,  that  its  conclusions  do 
not  always  reach  tangible  results. 

He  again  fell  insensible  at  the  shocks  and  again 


290  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

the  doctors  said  a  fit,  knowing  no  other  name 
for  it. 

Yet  Faith  was  right,  for  Catherine  was  on  that 
steamer,  and  before  morning  her  stricken  husband 
rallied,  to  send  a  telegram  to  his  brother  in  New 
York,  well  knowing  that  she  would  not  be  there, 
and  he  met  the  steamer  at  its  landing,  and  found 
in  her  stateroom  the  ticket  she  had  purchased  in 
Boston,  and  a  letter  to  her  son,  saying  merely, 
**  My  son,  when  you  receive  this  letter,  your  mama 
will  be  in  Heaven.  Do  not  think  she  no  longer 
loves  you,  as  it  is  because  she  loves  you  that  she 
has  to  go." 

She  had  gone  into  that  wintry  sea,  at  Point  Judith, 
and  no  trace  of  her  was  ever  found. 

And  that  Celestial  Telegraph?  Well,  its  offices 
seem  not  yet  to  have  been  opened,  and  there  is 
apparently  no  one  in  charge  of  them,  and  we  do  not 
even  know  whether  any  boat  stops  there  or  not ! 


YET    FAITH    IS    OUR    LIFE.  .    291 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

YET  FAITH  IS  OUR  LIFE. 

He  that  loseth  Ms  life  in  unselfish  service,  shall 
surely  find  it. 

That  stricken  husband  always  considered  that  his 
life  had  gone  out  with  hers  on  that  wintry  sea,  as 
the  drifting  scallops  had  long  ago  foretold. 

He  lived,  but  with  a  broken  wing,  and  life  was 
no  more  a  song,  but  an  endless  sorrow,  which  would 
gladly  welcome  even  Nirvana,  whose  rest  is  peace. 

Her  one  little  act  of  faithlessness  in  not  trusting 
him,  about  that  simple  letter,  had  swiftly  wrought 
such  madness  in  her  brain,  that  brilliant  life,  and 
all  its  blessings  and  duties,  and  even  children,  and 
home  and  heaven,  were  all  forgotten  in  that  blind 
suspicion  of  the  untrusting  heart. 

And  that  is  life  without  faith. 

How  terrible  are  thy  punishments,  oh  God,  for 
faithlessness  ;  it  seems  to  be  the  one  unpardonable 
sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit  to  doubt  its  fidelity : 
Infidelity  is  only  unfaithfulness  ;  Atheism  is  im- 
possible to  sane  minds,  as  those  who  claim  to  be 
Atheists  recognize  the  power  we  call  God,  though 
they  may  call  it  many  other  and  poorer  names. 

"  Genius  and  Madness  are  so  close  allied, 
That  thin  partitions-  do.  their  walls  divide." 


293  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

And  when  we  approach  those  border  lines,  we 
are  facing  at  once  the  great  question  of  the  future 
life,  and  it  allows  no  backward  look. 

Forward  is  the  Christian's  favorite  word.  We 
hear  it  sounding  from  beyond  the  vale. 

The  earthly  life  dwindles  into  insignificance,  or 
seems  but  a  confusing  noise  between  two  great 
silences,  as  we  approach  that  unknown  shore. 

But  is  it  really  true  that, 

"  If  a  man  die,  he  shall  live  again  ?  " 

At  last  that  is  the  only  question  worth  asking. 
That  we  are  is  some  proof  that  we  shall  be,  or  as 
Mrs.  Browning  quaintly  puts  it : 

"  God  lends  not ;  but  gives  to  the  end, 
As  He  loves  to  the  end.     If  it  seem 

That  he  draws  back  a  gift,  comprehend 
'  Tis  to  add  to  it  rather, — amend, 

And  finish  it  up  to  your  dream. 

Or  keep,  as  a  mother  may,  toys 

Too  costly,  though  given  by  herself, 

Till  the  room  shall  be  stiller  from  noise. 
And  the  children  more  fit  for  such  joys 

Kept  over  their  heads  on  the  shelf." 

"  Love  spurns  the  grave  and  leaps  to  welcoming  skies. 
And  burns,  a  steadfast  star  to  steadfast  eyes." 

Nor  is  this  merely  poetry. 

The  latest  word  of  Science  in  its  wildest  dreams 
of  evolution,  confirms  the  noblest  faith. 


YET    FAITH    IS    OUB    LIFE,  293 

Now  as  ever  the  pioneer  of  progress  and  the 
handmaid  of  Religion,  it  storms  all  opposition  and 
proclaims  the  voice  of  nature  is  the  voice  of  God. 

What  is  scientifically  true,  cannot  be  theologic- 
ally false,  and  the  noble  faith  of  to-day  accepts 
this  axiom,  and  welcomes  as  its  apostles  the  very 
Agnostics  of  science,  whose  ignorance  alone  reveals 
the  kindly  light. 

Genius  may  strike,  but  Faith  inspires  the  blow, 
and  Priest  and  Philosopher  at  last  unite  in  singing 
one  great  Psalm  of  life  : 

"  Life  is  real,  life  is  earnest, 

And  the  grave  is  not  its  goal. 
Dust  thou  art,  to  dust  returnest. 

Was  not  spoken  of  the  soul." 

Our  gifted  Dr.  Hunger  states  this  nobly  as  fol- 
lows : 

**  When  Scientists  and  Metaphysicians  are  found 
in  each  other's  camps  they  are  not  to  be  regarded 
as  intruders,  even  if  they  have  not  learned  the 
password,  but  rather  as  visitors  from  another  corps 
of  the  Grand  Army.  The  sappers  and  miners  may 
undervalue  the  flying  artillery,  and  the  cavalry 
may  gird  at  the  builders  of  earthworks  ;  but  as  the 
campaign  goes  on  each  will  come  to  recognize  the 
value  of  the  other,  and  perhaps  in  some  dark  night 
of  defeat  and  despair,  when  the  forces  of  the  com- 
mon enemy  are  pressing  them  in  the  rear,  they  will 
welcome  the  skill  of  those  who  can  throw  a  bridge 


294  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

across  the  fatal  river  in  front  of  the  unseen  shore 
beyond.     *    *    * 

"Take  your  stand  at  any  stage  of  evolution  and 
the  next  step  is  no  stranger,  no  more  to  be  antici- 
pated, it  is  no  broader  leap  than  that  from  death  to 
future  life. 

**  Plant  yourself  at  any  given  stage,  and  from 
the  knowledge  then  given  of  the  phenomena  report 
what  you  can  see  ahead.  Go  back  to  the  time 
when  the  swirl  of  fire  mist  was  drawing  into 
spheres  and  predicate  human  life — the  raging  ele- 
ments laugh  you  to  scorn.  Life  from  fire — no 
dream  of  metempsychosis  was  so  wild  as  that.  *  * 
These  are  specimens  of  the  questions  that  Philoso- 
phy puts  to  Science,  and  getting  no  answer — 

**  Metaphysics  holds  the  field,  and  on  its 
triumphant  banner  is  the  name  of  God.  *  ^  *'' 
And  this  is  moral  evolution. 
**  To  see  justice  slowly  creeping  to  higher  forms  ; 
penalty  first  as  vindictive,  then  retributive,  and 
now  at  last  reformatory  ;  first  a  conception  of  God 
as  Power,  then  as  Justice  and  finally  as  Love. 

'*  Science  itself  has  led  up  to  a  point  where  mat- 
ter, and  not  God,  becomes  the  unknowable.  *   *  * 
**The  seeming  antagonist  of  immortality  daring 
its  earlier  studies  of  evolution.  Science  noio  seems 
in  its  later  studies  to  become  an  ally." 

And  Faith  is,  therefore,  triumphant.    ''  To  doubt 
would  be  disloyalty  ;  to  falter  would  be  sin." 


YET    FAITH    IS    OUR    LIFE.  295 

"  Better  fifty  years  of  Europe  than  a  cycle  of 
Cathay." 

But  fifty  years  and  more  of  Channing  were  re- 
quired for  a  great  national  convention  of  Chris- 
tians in  1894,  to  adopt  the  simple  creed. 

"  We  accept  the  Religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  ac- 
cordance with  His  teaching,  which  is  the  Father- 
hood of  God  to  every  man." 

'*Andwe  share  with  Christians  everywhere  the 
supreme  conviction  that  the  power  which  has  estab- 
lished this  universe  is  conscious  and  beneficent,  and 
on  this  rests  the  hope  of  immortality  and  the  love 
to  God  and  love  to  man,  which  is  the  whole  foun- 
dation of  our  faith." 

And  that  Faith  is  still  worth  living  for  and  dying 
for. 

(Tune.)     FAIR   HARVARD. 

As  a  bird  to  her  mountain  my  spirit  must  flee, 

When  the  snare  of  the  fowler  is  spread  ; 
There's  a  refuge  for  sorrow,  a  shelter  for  me, 

Though  the  billows  now  break  on  my  head  ; 
To  the  hills,  to  the  hills,  lift  thine  eyes,  O  my  soul ! 

Time  and  anguish  will  soon  pass  away  ; 
Hid  with  Christ,  be  my  life,  thou  art  part  of  the  whole. 

And  Eternity  comforts  to-day. 


296  BORDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  CHRISTIANITY  OF  TO-DAY. 

Christianity  without  Christ  is  a  mistake,  a  mis- 
nomer and,  as  a  religion,  a  failure  ;  because  it  dif- 
fers not  sufficiently  from  civilization  and  ethical 
culture. 

Christianity  is  not  mere  worship  of  God,  as  the 
Jews  and  others  share  that  equally. 

Christ  is  not  synonymous  with  Jesus,  and  neither 
of  them  is  the  Jewish  Messiah,  nor  has  any  rela- 
tions with  that  Jewish  dream  of  prophecy. 

Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  men,  from  their  sins,  the 
Divine  influence  by  which  God  moves  humanity. 

Salvation  is  happiness  here  or  hereafter. 

Jesus  became  Christ  the  Saviour  of  men,  by  God's 
grace,  in  using  His  life  and  death  for  that  purpose, 
as  shown  in  all  history  since  that  time. 

The  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  is  thereby  recog- 
nized as  a  fact,  without  confounding  him  with 
Deity,  or  the  Creator  of  the  Universe,  or  source  of 
life,  whether  called  God,  or  any  other  name. 

This  drops  the  Trinity,  as  a  poetic  legend,  born 
of  man's  adoration  and  devotion. 

Believers  in  Christianity  should  accept  no  name 
but  that  of  Christians,  as  the  many  sub-divisions  of 


THE    OHEISTIANITY    OP    TO-DAY.  297 

it  only  weaken  its  power,  and  have  become  dis- 
graceful, if  not  justly  subjects  of  the  ridicule  of 
scoffers. 

Christianity  is  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
taught  by  Jesus,  consisting  only  in  believing  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  the  Brotherhood  of  all  men, 
as  the  children  of  God,  and  the  blessed  hope  of 
immortality. 

Within  those  border  lines  it  is  peace,  sincerity 
and  truth,  while  beyond  them  is  still  the  outer 
darkness  where  there  is  wailing  and  gnashing  of 
teeth,  in  the  partisan  warfare  of  many  sects,  which  is 
merely  the  selfish  and  degrading  politics  of  religion. 

Whose  factions  like  the  wretched  thieves  are  seen 
While  Heavenly  Truth  is  crucified  between. 

But  American  liberty  is  a  prolific  tree,  which 
blossoms  with  such  efflorescence  in  religious  mat- 
ters, that  its  secular  arm  of  civil  power  is  con- 
stantly needed  to  keep  the  peace  between  the  war- 
ring sects. 

And  if  we  go  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre  in  Jerusa- 
lem, to-day,  we  will  still  find  the  amazing  fact,  that 
the  Mohamedan  guards  that  sacred  shrine  with  a 
drawn  sword,  to  keep  the  peace  among  the  warring 
disciples  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

His  peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to  men,  only 
exists  after  conflicts  of  centuries,  by  depriving  his 
followers,  from  the  Pope  down  to  the  humblest 
convert,  of  all  secular  power. 


298         BORDER  LANDS  OF  FAITH. 

**  Peter  put  np  thy  sword  "  is  still  the  Divine 
command,  and  the  only  certain  land-marks  in 
Jerusalem  to-day  appear  to  show  that  the  Via 
Dolorosa  of  the  Roman  Church  as  there  laid  out, 
and  covered  with  the  fourteen  shrines  or  altars  as 
the  stages  of  the  Cross,  is  certainly  not  the  way  the 
Saviour  trod. 

The  Mount  of  Olives  is  the  most  reliable  land- 
mark left  there  now,  and  olive  branches  are  still 
growing  upon  it,  and  just  north  of  it  is  Gethe- 
semane,  and  a  little  westward,  outside  of  the 
Damascus  gate  at  the  junction  of  the  old  roads  to 
Galilee  and  the  west,  is  Golgotha  the  place  of  a 
skull,  still  plainly  visible  in  the  eternal  rock,  yet 
bearing  no  shrine  or  altar,  and  the  Via  Dolorosa 
does  not  even  lead  that  way,  although  the  new 
tomb  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea  hewn  in  the  solid 
rock  is  still  there  and  plainly  visible. 

On  this  rock  Protestants  should  erect  their 
shrine,  as  they  are  not  represented  on  the  other 
road,  where  Greeks  and  Copts  and  Syrians  and 
Rome  hold  all  the  right  of  way. 

The  higher  and  most  recent  criticism  seems  at 
last  to  have  fixed  this  rock  with  reasonable  cer- 
tainty, as  shown  in  the  brilliant  and  exhaustive 
article  of  the  Rev.  Haskett  Smith,  in  Murray's 
Magazine  in  1892. 

Almost  the  only  other  certain  land-marks  of 
Jesus  near  Jerusalem  are  at  Bethany  and  Bethle- 
hem. 


THE    CHRISTIANITY    OF    TO-DAY.  299 

David's  well,  still  existing  on  the  highway  at  the 
northerly  gate  of  Bethlehem,  was  doubtless  near 
the  field  of  Boaz,  and  the  Shepherd's  field  where 
the  angels  sang  at  night,  and  the  voices  of  Ruth 
and  Rachel  and  their  kind  mingling  in  the  soft 
moon-light  near  that  well,  might  well  have  been 
taken  for  Angels'  voices. 

Did  not  Jacob  serve  for  her  fourteen  years  in 
those  very  fields,  and  if  so,  why  should  she  not  sing 
like  an  Angel  ? 

Somebody  sang,  and  those  shepherds  were  sincere 
and  truthful  people,  and  Rachel's  tomb  is  still 
there  on  the  very  spot,  with  similar  Angels  singing 
over  it  to-day. 

And  the  Star  of  Bethlehem  ? 

Well ;  the  stars  do  not  leave  their  courses  to 
guide  wise  or  foolish  men  across  the  desert,  but  all 
wise  men  know  enough  to  find  their  way  at  night 
by  following  the  stars  ;  and  no  miracle  was  needed 
for  that  simple  fact. 

When  Justin  Martyr  confirmed  the  scripture  re- 
cord, by  writing  in  the  second  century,  that  Jesus 
was  born  in  a  grotto  near  Bethlehem,  because  there 
was  no  room  for  them  at  the  inn,  and  no  record 
mentions  any  other  place  of  birth :  it  seems  as 
though  the  higher  criticism,  so  called,  might  have 
spared  us  that  little  gleam  of  heavenly  light. 

"  Sleep,  sleep,  my  little  one,  and  I 
Will  pluck  the  star  for  thee,  and  by  and  bye 
Will  lay  it  on  thy  pillow,  bright  with  dew. — 


300  BOEDER    LANDS    OF    FAITH. 

And  the  child  sleeps,  and  dreams  of  stars  whose  light 
Shines  in  his  own  bright  eyes  when  he  awakes." 


There  is  a  power,  as  pure  as  childhood's  glee, 

We  feel  it  when  all  outward  things  depress, 
The  power  that  triumphed  upon  Calvary, 

The  calm,  sustaining  power  of  consciousness. 
The  sea  may  rage,  the  elements  convene, 

To  toss  the  works  of  wisdom  in  their  wrath. 

The  winds  may  sweep  proud  cities  from  their  path 
But  Samsons  perish  in  their  conquering  scene. 

While  Faith  is  deathless,  and  the  still  small  voice 

The  only  symbol  of  eternal  power. 
Shall  bid  earth's  crushed  and  mourning  ones  rejoice. 

Shall  gild  with  glory  each  dark  trial  hour. 
And  teach  our  race,  the  sorrowing  and  forlorn. 

That  all  true  power  is  in  the  manger  born. 


[THE  END.] 


IX  MEMORIAM. 

This  story  was  left  unfinished  by  my  late  brother 
Henry  Clay  Badger,  at  bis  untimely  death  in  1894, 
and  is  a  truthful  record  of  his  life  and  views  of  the 
highest  questions,  expressed  with  utter  fearlessness 
and  candor. 

Believing  its  lessons  to  be  of  permanent  value,  I 
have  published  it  as  his  best  memorial. 

Its  loyal  Faith  is  at  least  significant,  in  an  age 
when  Presbyterianism  only  survives  by  boycotting 
Learning,  as  Mohammed  and  Rome  prevailed  for  a 
time,  by  burning  the  libraries  and  the  scientists. 

But  as  the  statue  of  Bruno  before  the  Vatican 
has  at  last  made  the  infallible  Pope  ridiculous,  so 
the  persecution  of  Dr.  Briggs  and  his  innumerable 
class  will  certainly  abolish  the  more  foolish  idea 
of  the  infallible  book. 

While  Plutocracy  is  still  so  powerful,  the  lives 
of  even  humble  scholars  are  inspiring,  and  con- 
stantly suggest  anew  the  higher  ideals,  so  well 
illustrated  by  England's  greatest  Premier  when  he 
gave  his  eldest  daughter  in  marriage  to  a  school- 
master, his  second  to  a  clergyman,  and  installed 
his  third  as  a  college  Professor  at  Cambridge. 

There  is  nothing  so  radical  as  Truth,  and  nothing 
so  conservative.  It  is  a  two-edged  sword  which  cuts 
to  the  correct  line  every  time.  Sincere  souls  with 
knowledge  sufficient  to  form  an  intelligent  belief,  are, 
therefore,  both  radical  and  conservative. 

Such  is  this  book,  in  favor  of  the  Religion  of 
Jesus  as  taught  by  him,  which  was  never  more 
needed  or  more  welcome  than  now. 

William  Whittlesey  Badger, 

178  Broadway,  N"ew  York. 
Memorial  Day,  May  30,  1895. 


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